The President, citing climate change, spurns resources his predecessors relied on to boost U.S. energy production
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration has leased fewer acres for oil-and-gas drilling offshore and on federal land than any other administration in its early stages dating back to the end of World War II, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
President Biden’s Interior Department leased 126,228 acres for drilling through Aug. 20, his first 19 months in office, the analysis found. No other president since Richard Nixon in 1969-70 leased out fewer than 4.4 million acres at this stage in his first term.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal...en-11662230816
Why should he- The US Major oil companies are not drilling on what thousands upon thousands of leases that are available now.
Fact-checking Biden’s claim that there are 9,000 unused oil drilling permits
If Your Time is short
President Joe Biden announced on March 8 a ban of all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
At the end of 2021, there were about 9,000 approved permits to drill on federal and Indian lands. Those permits included those issued under Biden and those still active from Trump’s administration.
Before drilling, companies assess whether it makes economic sense to drill immediately or wait.
See the sources for this fact-check
President Joe Biden said that his policies have not made the U.S. less equipped to withstand the impact of the ban on Russian energy imports. He contended that the onus is on U.S. oil and gas companies that have permits to begin drilling, but haven’t started.
"It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production," Biden said March 8 in a speech announcing a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports. Biden said that companies pumped more oil in the U.S. during his first year in office than during his predecessor’s first year and that we were on track for record oil production next year. Then Biden pivoted to point the finger at the industry:
"In the United States, 90% of onshore oil production takes place on land that isn’t owned by the federal government. And of the remaining 10% that occurs on federal land, the oil and gas industry has millions of acres leased," Biden said. "They have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year. They have 9,000 to drill onshore that are already approved."
Biden said that the companies are not using these permits to drill.
"These are the facts. We should be honest about the facts."
Is Biden sharing all the facts here? He’s right on the numbers of permits but what that means is a little more complicated than his statement suggests.
The industry could move forward with the permits that it has that are currently unused and could ramp up domestic oil production to replace Russian oil, but these moves take time.
The status of drilling permits during Biden’s administration
The U.S. has more than 24 million acres under lease to oil and gas companies onshore — close to half are not producing.
Before drilling can occur, the lease holder has to get a federal permit. At the end of 2021, there were 9,173 approved and available permits to drill on federal and Indian lands. Those permits include those issued under Biden and those still active from Trump’s administration and potentially before, said Josh Axelrod, of the National Resources Defense Council. Companies don’t have to immediately begin drilling as their leases last 10 years and can be extended beyond that.
From a federal regulatory standpoint, once a permit is approved, industry can proceed.
The president suggested the onus is on the industry to start drilling. But it’s not as simple as Biden made it seem, because there are some steps before companies begin production.
Companies have to contract rigs to drill the wells, and build a sufficient inventory of permits before rigs are contracted, said Jennifer Pett, a spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a trade group that represents oil and natural gas producers.
"Producers also have to put a drilling plan together, secure rights of way and work with state and private landowners," Pett said.
https://www.politifact.com/factchec...hecking-bidens-claim-there-are-9000-unused-o/
