On Friday, the Biden administration stated they will begin the sale of oil and gas leases on federal land again. This is scheduled to take place this week.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) made the announcement of the pending sales. They had opposed the idea of energy businesses opening more land to drill.
The average price of gas in the U.S. is more than $4 a gallon. Thus, Biden’s new move is one tactic to ram up the country’s energy supply.
This week, BLM will ensure that close to 144,000 acres of federal land will be able to be leased, they say. That is 80% less in the acreage first considered for oil and gas exploration.
The Department also stated that energy businesses will have to pay the government royalties totaling 18.75% of the amount that they get from any new lease. The percentage used to be 12.5%.
The sale of new leases was put on hold one week after Biden became president. Eventually, a Louisiana judge blocked the order. It then gave a preliminary injunction to 13 states that said they would suffer by the White House’s decision.
Biden and his administration have always said that energy companies are stopping supply. This was by permitting thousands of drilling permits to continue to not be utilized.
On the other hand, Republicans and heads of the industry say different. They believe that the White House’s opposition to unused leases was done to divert from the administration’s anti-energy policies.
