Four House Democrats from Texas have urged President Joe Biden to rescind his executive order halting new oil and gas leases on federal land and water, saying it will lead to job losses, squeeze budgetary revenues, undercut American energy independence, and will "Hurt an already suffering community."
On Wednesday, Biden signed an executive order that set up a "Pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible" and will launch a "Rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters." The White House said the move is an attempt to "Tackle the climate crisis."
Vicente Gonzalez, Henry Cuellar, Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, and Marc Veasey called Biden's order "Far-reaching" and demanded he rescind it, arguing that banning "Responsible energy leasing" would eliminate jobs, reduce economic output, increase budgetary shortfalls, and increase crude imports from foreign countries and so "Weakening of the U.S. national security apparatus as it pertains to American energy independence."
Last week, the Biden administration imposed a 60-day suspension of new permits for oil and gas leasing, drilling, and fracking on federal lands.
Wednesday's executive order goes a step further and imposes a moratorium on such permits, although the freeze would not impact existing leases and would not apply to private land, which accounts for more than three quarters of total U.S. oil production and even more for natural gas.
Biden's new order also seeks to end direct federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
"Unlike previous administrations, I don't think the federal government should give handouts to big oil to the tune of $40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies," Biden said at a signing ceremony on Wednesday.
Thursday, January 28, 2021
4 House Democrats Urge Biden to Rescind Order Halting New Oil and Gas Leases
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