WASHINGTON (Audacy) — As the Biden White House faces mounting pressure to provide relief for Americans at the gas pump, the executive branch said Friday it would begin leasing public land for onshore oil and gas for the first time in the current administration.
The Department of the Interior unveiled a plan to lease roughly 144,000 acres to gas companies but at a higher cost, charging more for the privilege of drilling on federal land. It’s the first time the fees have increased — from 12.5% to 18.75%. The increase more accurately reflects rates currently charged in the private sector.
The move, however, upset climate change activists. Some see the last-ditch effort to curb gas prices as a betrayal of the president’s promise to outlaw new drilling on federal land, which along with offshore drilling, accounts for nearly one-fourth of the country’s pollution output.
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“The Biden administration talks a good talk on climate action, the reality is, they’re in bed with the oil and gas industry,” WildEarth Guardians program director Jeremy Nichols wrote in a statement, calling it “climate denial.”
The Biden administration couched the move as far from rewarding for oil and gas companies, which had hoped to gain access to drilling on nearly 600,000 additional acres of land.
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