As President Joe Biden's term draws to a close, he is making a series of decisions that could hinder the incoming Trump administration's ambitious energy agenda.
These actions, which include restrictions on domestic oil and gas production, are seen as a parting shot against energy producers and a move to cement Biden's legacy as a president who was not in favor of these industries.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, the Biden administration has implemented a series of measures that include fossil-fuel leasing restrictions, an oil lease sale in Alaska that seemed to attract no industry interest, and an expansion of endangered species protections that prevent drilling on oil-rich lands in several states. In addition, mining has been halted in South Dakota on land with critical mineral reserves essential for energy technologies. The most high-profile action, however, is the banning of oil leasing across 625 million acres of federal waters, an area roughly equivalent to a third of the continental United States.
These actions set the stage for a busy start to President-elect Donald Trump's administration and its aggressive energy agenda. The Senate's confirmation hearings for Trump's energy picks are also on the horizon. The hearing to consider the nomination of North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R.) to lead the Department of the Interior, where much of federal energy policy is crafted, is scheduled for Thursday morning. The hearing for Trump's pick for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lee Zeldin, and Chris Wright's hearing for secretary of energy will take place on Wednesday.
Trump and his nominees have all advocated for rolling back Biden's environmental restrictions on drilling and opening up more land for leasing. They argue that such policies would bolster American energy security, provide an economic boost, and help to soften inflation.
"These decisions are yet another attempt by the Biden administration to undercut the incoming Trump administration and ignore the will of the American peoplewho decisively voted to reverse this war on American energy," Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon. "This administration has habitually bypassed Congress on natural resource issues that dramatically affect states."
"Senate Republicans will push back using every tool at our disposal. Americans deserve energy policies that unleash resources and create jobs," Lee continued. "Senate Republicans are committed to restoring American energy dominance, safeguarding our energy security, and rolling back Biden's Green New Deal policies that burden families with higher prices and fewer opportunities. I look forward to working with Governor Burgum, President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Interior, to roll back these harmful actions."
Daniel Turner, the executive director of energy advocacy group Power the Future, believes that Biden's actions also serve to galvanize environmental activist groups and provide them with ammunition to challenge the Trump administration's agenda through litigation. "'Drill, baby, drill' is a wonderful catchphrase, and it's something crowds can chant and get excited about, and it's definitely an overall philosophy of energy development," Turner told the Free Beacon. "But the practical matter of 'drill, baby, drill' is cooperation from government and Biden is trying hard to make sure that becomes an impossibility."
"Biden is deliberately setting President Trump up to fail by delaying as much as he can, causing frustration that he was unable to deliver on his promises, and also just to try to provide for negative headlines and negative press, knowing the liberal media will be his best advocate against the Trump administration going forward," Turner continued.
Biden's offshore drilling ban, which blocks drilling along the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as portions of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, was implemented as a withdrawal under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The courts have yet to rule on whether an executive action reversing such a withdrawal, as Trump has promised to pursue, is legal. This means Trump's expected reversal will likely be met with environmental litigation, which could halt his efforts to restart leasing.
"This political stunt will cost thousands of hardworking Americans their jobs, drive up energy costs for families, farmers, and industries already struggling with inflation, and make us more reliant on foreign countries for the resources we need," Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R., Calif.), the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, said in a statement.
"By weaponizing laws to block responsible domestic energy production, this administration is prioritizing radical activist demands over American workers, national security, and economic stability," he said. "Shutting down critical energy projects in the last few days of their administration is simply spiteful to the American people and an attempt to hamstring the next administration."
The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management also announced last month that it would move forward with the smallest five-year oil leasing plan ever put forward. Under the plan, the federal government will hold just three lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico through 2029. By comparison, the most recent plans, both formulated under the Obama administration, included more than 10 offshore oil and gas lease sales each.
And last week, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management held an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as required under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But the agency blocked off much of the resource-rich lands in the area and instead auctioned off land deemed undesirable for drilling. The lease sale, as a result, garnered no industry interest, something celebrated by the administration.
The Bureau of Land Management took two additional lame-duck actions targeting energy production: It expanded protections for the greater sage-grouse bird species across several states, which blocks resource development on lands rich with oil, and issued a 20-year mining ban across 20,510 acres of South Dakotan land with large critical mineral deposits vital for energy technologies.
"While the Biden-Harris administration spends its final days catering to its radical climate change base, farmers, ranchers and landowners across the west will bear the consequences of its catastrophic failures for years to come," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said following the greater sage-grouse protections announcement.
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