President Joe Biden promised as a candidate that he would end all oil and gas leases on federal land. During a debate with former President Donald Trump in October, 2020, Biden said, “I would transition from the oil industry, yes, because the oil industry pollutes significantly.”
“No more drilling on federal lands, no more drilling including offshore—no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill—period,” Biden said.
Who knew he would act so quickly to end oil production in America?
According to the Wall Street Journal, 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.
Since he took office in early 2021, Biden’s Interior Department leased 126,228 acres for drilling through Aug. 20, 2022. Leasing is down nearly 97% from the first 19 months of the Trump Administration.
“No other president since Richard Nixon in 1969-70 leased out fewer than 4.4 million acres at this stage in his first term,” the authors wrote.
President Harry Truman was the last to lease out fewer acres than Biden. Between 1945-46, his administration leased 65,658 acres. That was before offshore drilling was possible or practical, and just represented onshore acreage. Today, offshore leases represent most of the federal oil-and-gas tracts. It’s an apples and oranges comparison.
“The president said he was going to stop leasing. And he’s been remarkably successful,” said David Bernhardt, Interior secretary in the Trump administration, who in 2020 announced plans for an oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an action undone by Biden on his first day of office, along with revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
The analysis was based on Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management data, and does not include land leased in Alaska since the late 1990s, little of which fell into the periods analyzed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the same time he has been shutting down oil leases, Biden has depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, Petroleum Reserve, which is at its lowest level in 37 years. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve page at the Department of Energy is broken and not reporting actual inventory at this time, but elsewhere it appears the inventory has shrunk to 450 million barrels of its 714 million-barrel capacity, as of August. The Administration has released 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
At the same time, the Biden Administration is pressuring banks and investment funds to not lend to any company financing fossil fuels.
“While the Biden administration has been in office for six quarters, it has conducted auctions in just one of them. That happened in late June, after the administration came under increasing pressure to tame soaring gasoline prices at the pump in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” according to the story.
The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 requires onshore oil and gas leasing at least quarterly, the Journal reports. There appears to be no penalty from the Department of Justice for the president breaking the law.
“Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan boosted leasing to record highs in the 1970s and early ’80s in response to geopolitical oil crises. Mr. Reagan still holds the record, leasing nearly 48 million acres in his first 19 months, almost three times as much as any other president,” the newspaper reported.
Behind the paywall, the Wall Street Journal report is at this link.
As Biden flies in his 747 from Dulles a couple hundred miles to another of his million dollar vacation homes. Typical environment wacko. No common sense and a hypocrite of extraordinary proportions. Oh yes, and a pedophile. Oh, and a counterfeit president.
You forgot to mention President Biden’s corruption, his progressive (pun intended) dementia, and his hatred for everything that normal, rational Americans stand and have ever stood for.
He made his intentions clear as a candidate. But Orange Man made mean tweets, so civilization had to go.
and he calls us Fascist?
This is all by design, more from Biden’s handlers than Biden himself. We all remember his first few days in office, bleary eyed Joe sitting at the desk with papers placed in front of him and being told where to sign. Enrichen countries and regimes hostile to us while driving the US further and further to 3rd world status.
And, aided and abetted by Murkowski.
It is laughable that she can campaign on resource development, when she cast the deciding vote for Biden’s rabid anti development Interior Secretary.
.
I still remember very wise words.
It is a luxury of a wealthy country to care about the environment. But, when that country puts the environment before maintaining that wealth, they will lose both.
And yet Conservative Nicks supporters picked one of his co-conspirators
So you still happy with your PALTOLA VOTE. For anything OIL, it’s just gonna get worse. Like Democrats do—Burn down Alaska rather than let Sarah Win. She was the Only One saying Drill Baby Drill. It is on her Campaign Gear NOW.
Mary was good enough to rank 2nd for Palin.
Now you’re made people followed her lead?
MUD in the way of clear thinking about her . She has a boyfriend now
All part of the NWO; Where the “elite” have great expectations of sugar plums.
Brandon quickly installed Obama’s administration as soon as he was elected. Obama is ruining the USA from his beach property on Martha’s Vineyard (where he doesn’t worry about global warming flooding his mansion) while Brandon gets the blame.
Play stupid political games, win stupid political prizes.
““The president said he was going to stop leasing. And he’s been remarkably successful,” said David Bernhardt, Interior secretary in the Trump administration”
A more appropriate word would be ‘effective’ in place of ‘successful’.
Stealing valor is naughty, Biden.
Must be going to buy it from Russia and China. What about everything we make from oil?
Democrats have no concept. Without brains!! the fossil fuels to make gas which makes electricity,
People that know what it takes to go completely green say the US does not hwv that in our soil , so buying it would be from a foreign country. Really saving expenses Right?
We have one RINO and now what will likely be a full term for a democrat representative…..if you work in energy ——move now and avoid the stampede when the oil jobs are lost for ever.
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