The rejection of two lease transactions in the Gulf of Mexico and one leasing sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet by the Biden government elicited mixed reactions.
Some reactions include accusations that the government is “outright lying.”
He Destroyed the Oil Industry
Donald Trump Jr., who recently rallied for successful conservative Senate primary challenger J.D. Vance in Ohio, was one of the politicians who spoke out.
In a tweet, he said, “Begins to look like Joe is doing a terrific job of making hyperinflation his top priority.”
The oil and gas license in the Cook Inlet, which connects Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska, included 1.09 million acres.
The Cook Strait sale was canceled, according to a Department of the Interior official, due to a “lack of industrial interest in the region.”
The Alaska Oil and Gas Organization (AOGA) chairman and CEO Kara Moriarty told The Epoch Times, “I’m not certain that’s totally factual.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), charged the Biden government with “outright lying to the American people.”
Oil producers need certainty. Biden must stop ripping the rug out from under the oil industry and let them unleash AMERICAN energy. pic.twitter.com/SJeQ7s0cZM
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) May 12, 2022
He and Moriarty both cited communication from AOGA, which includes more than a dozen oil and gas companies in Alaska, as proof of business interest in the Cook Inlet sale.
“Baffling is the nicest phrase I can come up with” to describe the termination, Moriarty told The Epoch Times. Local activists, on the other hand, were enthusiastic about the decision.
Liz Mering told The Epoch Times, “I’m quite thrilled we aren’t going to see an oil and gas leasing sale that will seriously affect our local economy.”
Mering is the innkeeper and campaign director for Cook InletKeeper, an Alaskan nonprofit opposing oil and gas development in the region.
It aims to “accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to an egalitarian, renewable energy future,” according to its website.
He Has Legal Challenges
In June 2021, a Trump appointee, Louisiana federal Judge James Cain, overturned the Biden government’s moratorium on oil and gas leases. With Executive Order 14008, the delay had begun.
In January, an Obama appointee, D.C. federal Judge Rudolph Contreras declared the largest federal offshore oil sale in the record, scheduled for November 2021, was unconstitutional.
The Biden administration’s decision to cancel plans to auction drilling rights in three regions off the U.S. coastline adds to friction with the oil industry https://t.co/9t0kuvkB6d
— Real Time Economics (@WSJecon) May 13, 2022
He claimed it was in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act since it didn’t account for greenhouse gas emissions. The verdict was not appealed by the Biden government, of course
After an appeals court determined that it may use a higher “social cost of carbon” element for assessing permits, the government revealed its plans to resume lease sales in March.
Biden promised to “ban new oil and gas licensing on public lands and seas” as a presidential contender.
The newest lease rejections come as the country grapples with soaring inflation and gas prices, both of which are driven by a lack of energy independence.
