President Biden Extends ‘Temporary’ Pause on Leasing on Federal Lands Once Again, Until July at the Earliest

May 3, 2021

President Biden’s ban on new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters has now been extended until July at the earliest, while the Department of Interior conducts their review of the federal leasing program. While Biden has not outright banned drilling on public lands and waters, he his doing everything in his power to halt any new leases and we guarantee this “temporary” ban will be extended again.

The National Review reports:

After all, why would Mr. Biden or any member of his administration choose to bring leftist opprobrium upon themselves? The administration perceives one of its central political vulnerabilities to be the employment impacts of both its leasing pause (or ban) and the broader Biden “net-zero” proposals. And so the administration now argues — and has deluded itself into believing — that massive subsidies for unconventional energy projects can shield workers and households from those adverse effects. That is an illusion, and in any event ignores the broader adverse employment effects of significant and artificial increases in energy costs for the economy as a whole. Nonetheless, that is their story, and they’re sticking to it.

As Power The Future previously reported in a blog post, “The American Petroleum Institute projects a drilling ban on federal lands and waters extended through 2030 would result in 1 million job losses by 2022 with the biggest impact being felt in the states of Texas, Wyoming and New Mexico.”

It is likely, therefore, that the “temporary” leasing ban — ostensibly intended to allow for a “review” of the attendant effects on “climate change” — in reality will be extended time and again, yielding de facto the ban that the administration denies vociferously is under consideration. Congress enacted the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920, directing the Department of the Interior to implement the leasing program for fossil resources on federal lands. Has Congress changed its mind?

The answer is “no.” No law has been enacted authorizing a long-term ban on fossil-energy leasing on federal lands, whether or not disguised as a series of “temporary” “pauses” during which the administration can find excuses to pursue its ideological agenda. Properly understood, the forthcoming series of temporary interruptions of the leasing process is lawless — a new manifestation of the growing tendency of administrations to ignore the constitutional mandate that the laws be faithfully executed. That is the real problem posed by the Biden leasing ban, blatant even if implemented surreptitiously: It represents yet another attack on the rule of law, and an erosion of the fundamental power of the Congress to decide policies.

Biden’s heavy-handed approach to overhauling the energy industry is detached from the fundamental principles Congress is based on. The article went on to say, that if the ban were permanent, it would reduce national wealth by the present value of that lost stream of production, or about $45 billion. Not to mention the 1 million high-paying energy jobs that would be lost.

Biden continues to push policies that hurt the American economy, the American worker, and skyrocket American households energy bills with his radical eco-left agenda.