The Biden administration is proposing higher oil revisions and development revisions by Reuters

Jarrett Renshaw, Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom

(Reuters) – The Biden administration proposed a number of changes on Friday to the nation’s federal oil and gas rental program, including mountain quotas for drilling companies to keep them out of sensitive wildlife and cultural sites.

The recommendations underwent a lengthy review to allow drilling in federal land and water to benefit the public. But as a sign of extreme controversy over the issue, environmental groups called the proposals weak and criticized the industry for being too harsh.

President Joe Biden’s administration launched a review earlier this year as a step toward fulfilling the election campaign promise to end the new fossil fuel drilling to tackle climate change.

Under the U.S. Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program, the Department of the Interior is required to conduct regular auctions for the drilling industry to promote domestic self-sufficiency in energy and raise money for public coffers.

A report from the Department of the Interior, however, said the current program “does not meet the public interest” and called for new rules to increase royalty rates, bond rates and other fees for producers. Current legislation requires a minimum duty rate of 12.5% ​​for oil and gas produced on the federal surface, a level that has not changed in a century.

The report also proposed new rules to avoid “conflict with recreation, wildlife habitat, conservation and historical and cultural resources.”

“Our nation is facing a deep climate crisis that is affecting all Americans,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a note announcing the recommendations.

“The Department of the Interior has a duty to manage our public land and water responsibly: to provide a fair return to the taxpayer and to mitigate the worsening effects of the climate.”

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the U.S. oil and gas industry, criticized the proposals, saying it would accumulate costs for domestic energy producers at a time when retail gasoline prices are already high.

Environmental groups including the Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch, meanwhile, opposed the proposals because they were too weak.

“These trivial changes make almost no sense in the midst of this climate emergency, and are breaking Biden’s campaign promise to stop new oil and gas leases on public land,” said Randi Spiva, CBD’s director of public land.

“Putting more fossil fuel extraction on the green, and then pretending it’s okay with rising tariff rates, is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” he said.

A quarter of the nation’s oil and gas comes from federal leases and the program raises millions of dollars for federal and state budgets.

DELAYED REPORT

The Department of the Interior wanted to release the lease report in early summer, but repeatedly delayed it without explanation.

The department also tried to suspend the lease of oil and gas in the study of the program, but had to proceed with the auctions after being sued in several federal states that produce oil and gas.

This month, a federal auction of millions of acres in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, for example, generated more than $ 190 million in large bids, the largest since 2019, including with large buyers. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE :), Chevron Corp (NYSE :), BP (NYSE 🙂 Plc and Shell (LON :).

Haaland said he wants to reduce the carbon footprint of the nation’s federal land and water by promoting the rental of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, such as wind, solar and geothermal.

Biden, meanwhile, has set a goal of decarbonizing the U.S. economy, the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, by 2050, in part by encouraging a transition away from fossil fuels to renewables.