The Biden Administration acknowledged in a memo that charging energy companies small fees to drill in Cook Inlet would provide “greater energy security” but the administration hiked royalty fees anyway, according news first reported by Fox.
The memo was accidentally posted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, showing that the administration is putting its climate fixation before the needs of Alaskans for natural gas for heating. In 2020, natural gas fueled 42% of Alaska’s total utility-scale electricity generation and hydroelectric power generated 28%, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The memo states that, at a lower royalty rate, “If a Cook Inlet prospect would be developed, there would be additional government revenues and greater energy security for the State of Alaska, especially if development of natural gas resources in the Cook Inlet ameliorated the long-term supply challenges facing the Anchorage area. Nevertheless, because of the serious challenges facing the Nation from climate change and the impact of GHGs from fossil fuels, BOEM is not recommending this option…” [emphasis ours].
The Interior Department memo made recommendations to Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel Davis, on the Cook Inlet Oil and Gas Lease Sale 258, which was put into the Inflation Reduction Act due to the dogged efforts of Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski.
Former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Amanda Lefton recommended that, due to climate change and the need to discourage oil and gas, the Department of the Interior enact higher royalty fees for 958,202 acres of Cook Inlet, according to the memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
DOI Assistant Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis agreed with the recommendation and signed off on it.
Sen. Dan Sullivan said, “This leaked memo is shocking & disturbing. Apparently the Biden administration’s climate zealots would rather manipulate prices and see Alaskans freeze in the winter from an energy shortage than conduct a lawful Cook Inlet lease sale.”
The Cook Inlet basin is Alaska’s oldest producing oil and gas basin, producing since before statehood. Peak production occurred the early 1970s at 230,000 barrels per day. The fields that are proven in Cook Inlet only have enough gas to supply the Southcentral area of Alaska for about four years, after which Alaska would have to find other alternatives, such as importing natural gas, according to a recent report from the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.
