Biden Has Issued the Fewest Oil & Gas Leases of Any President Since World War II

September 6, 2022

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal released a new analysis of the Biden administration’s war on American energy. Specifically, the Journal examined the total acreage of land leased by the Biden administration for oil and gas production. The amount is historically low.

The Journal reports, “The Biden administration has leased fewer acres for oil-and-gas drilling offshore and on federal land than any other administration in its early stages dating back to the end of World War II, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. President Biden’s Interior Department leased 126,228 acres for drilling through Aug. 20, his first 19 months in office, the analysis found. No other president since Richard Nixon in 1969-70 leased out fewer than 4.4 million acres at this stage in his first term.”

In fact, the Journal’s analysis found that the last president to lease fewer acres was Harry Truman and that was before the federal government offered offshore leasing. There has been a massive drop-off in just the last 19 months, since Biden has been in the White House. 

The Journal continues: “Under Mr. Biden’s stewardship the decline has quickened, with leasing down 97% from the first 19 months of his predecessor Donald Trump’s term…In all, the Interior Department has awarded 203 leases for oil and gas development during Mr. Biden’s first 19 months in office. Former presidents Trump and Obama each approved 10 times as many leases during the same period, the Journal’s analysis shows.”

The Journal’s analysis isn’t telling Americans something they didn’t already know, but it is staggering to see the numbers in context. At a time when fuel prices are historically high and the American people are struggling with inflation, the Biden administration is doing everything in its power to kill oil and gas leasing on federal lands.