Interior Department canceled a 1-million-plus acre oil lease in Alaska as Americans face painfully high prices at the pump
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-admin-cancels-oil-gas-lease-sale-record-high-prices
Steve Milloy, a former Trump-Pence EPA transition member and founder of JunkScience.com, traced these lease cancelations back to President Biden in remarks to FOX Business Wednesday.
In Alaska, the problem was that the greens scared off virtually everyone," Milloy said. "It's expensive to explore and drill, and the greens made it pretty clear, they were going to make it even more difficult."
When former President Trump opened Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, the lease sale attracted only three bidders, including the state of Alaska itself. Environmental activists have opposed ANWR drilling for decades, and Milloy suggested that pressure from climate activists scared oil companies away. That sale also took place in early 2021, amid the COVID-19 economic recession and when Biden – who had campaigned on restricting the oil industry – was about to become president.
"I blame Biden for all lack of production. He has scared away investment," Milloy told FOX Business. "I don't trust him in court defending leasing," he added, suggesting that the president will find "any excuse to not drill. They even tried to use the social cost of carbon decision to stop leasing."
Unfortunately, this is becoming a pattern - the administration talks about the need for more supply and acts to restrict it," Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, told FOX Business in a statement Thursday. "As geopolitical volatility and global energy prices continue to rise, we again urge the administration to end the uncertainty and immediately act on a new five-year program for federal offshore leasing."
Federal law requires DOI to stick to a five-year leasing plan for auctioning offshore leases. The department had until the end fo the current five-year plan – due to expire on June 30 – to complete the sales.
A source familiar with the Cook Inlet lease confirmed to FOX Business that the DOI received no comments indicating specific company interest in leasing during the scoping period.
ithin his first week in office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily suspending new oil and gas leases on federal lands. The administration resumed the new leasing last month following court challenges against the ban. The administration is appealing a ruling in which Judge James Cain, a Trump appointee, struck down the ban.
The Washington, D.C., District Court invalidated another Gulf of Mexico lease, lease 257, in January. The administration is not appealing the ruling, though it affects a separate lease from the ones the DOI spokesperson mentioned Wednesday.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-admin-cancels-oil-gas-lease-sale-record-high-prices
Steve Milloy, a former Trump-Pence EPA transition member and founder of JunkScience.com, traced these lease cancelations back to President Biden in remarks to FOX Business Wednesday.
In Alaska, the problem was that the greens scared off virtually everyone," Milloy said. "It's expensive to explore and drill, and the greens made it pretty clear, they were going to make it even more difficult."
When former President Trump opened Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, the lease sale attracted only three bidders, including the state of Alaska itself. Environmental activists have opposed ANWR drilling for decades, and Milloy suggested that pressure from climate activists scared oil companies away. That sale also took place in early 2021, amid the COVID-19 economic recession and when Biden – who had campaigned on restricting the oil industry – was about to become president.
"I blame Biden for all lack of production. He has scared away investment," Milloy told FOX Business. "I don't trust him in court defending leasing," he added, suggesting that the president will find "any excuse to not drill. They even tried to use the social cost of carbon decision to stop leasing."
Unfortunately, this is becoming a pattern - the administration talks about the need for more supply and acts to restrict it," Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, told FOX Business in a statement Thursday. "As geopolitical volatility and global energy prices continue to rise, we again urge the administration to end the uncertainty and immediately act on a new five-year program for federal offshore leasing."
Federal law requires DOI to stick to a five-year leasing plan for auctioning offshore leases. The department had until the end fo the current five-year plan – due to expire on June 30 – to complete the sales.
A source familiar with the Cook Inlet lease confirmed to FOX Business that the DOI received no comments indicating specific company interest in leasing during the scoping period.
ithin his first week in office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily suspending new oil and gas leases on federal lands. The administration resumed the new leasing last month following court challenges against the ban. The administration is appealing a ruling in which Judge James Cain, a Trump appointee, struck down the ban.
The Washington, D.C., District Court invalidated another Gulf of Mexico lease, lease 257, in January. The administration is not appealing the ruling, though it affects a separate lease from the ones the DOI spokesperson mentioned Wednesday.
