Oil leases on federal land under the Biden Administration are scheduled to be resumed after an announcement last week. The rates for royalties companies pay on oil and natural gas extracted from federal lands will be sharply raised to 18.75%. The Interior Department says it is to ensure fair return for the American taxpayer and on par with rates charged by states and private landowners. As a result of the environmental review, the final sale notices will offer approximately 173 parcels on roughly 144,000 acres for oil and gas drilling.
This is seen by some as a controversial move because it goes against the president’s 2020 campaign promise not to drill on federal land.
ABC’s Mary Bruce reports:
“The White House says they basically had no choice after a federal judge ordered that these sales resume. Now the White House is also increasing the royalties that companies must pay for this drilling. It’s the first kind of increase like this in more than a century. But it’s also pretty clear that the president is trying to walk a fine line here, trying to show that he is still serious about fighting climate change, while also do something to bring down these rising gas prices.”
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan joined Utah Sen. Mike Lee saying that the federal government needed to cut regulations to access energy here at home:
“(Federal land), Whether it’s Utah, whether it’s Alaska, it is our land. The people need it and they really need it when you look at the price at the pump right now. There’s no doubt more production of American energy would bring down the prices that working families are feeling all across the country that are pretty staggering and really harmful to getting by on having to stretch a budget.”
Alaska reportedly isn’t on the list of states for consideration as, according to the Interior Department, the BLM assessed potentially available and eligible acreage in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
This move comes after the Biden Administration faces mounting pressure to address the increasing energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
