The Department of the Interior on Friday released a long-awaited report on the country’s federal oil and gas leasing program. The report, which you can read right here, was first ordered in January by the president. It spans 18 pages and primarily focuses on the bum deal the American public is getting when it comes to returns on investment from some of the world’s worst polluters. In a press release, Deb Haaland acknowledged the fiscal overhaul the department believes is needed but said little of substance about reforms targeting climate change.
“Our nation faces a profound climate crisis that is impacting every American. The Interior Department has an obligation to responsibly manage our public lands and waters—providing a fair return to the taxpayer and mitigating worsening climate impacts—while staying steadfast in the pursuit of environmental justice. This review outlines significant deficiencies in the federal oil and gas programs, and identifies important and urgent fiscal and programmatic reforms that will benefit the American people,” Haaland said in a statement.
Environmental justice is mentioned just three times in the report, often lumped into a list of communities, Tribes, and other groups the department claims they are actively seeking feedback from in order to enact reforms. If the department was listening to groups seeking a more equitable world where climate change is truly taken seriously, then this report probably wouldn’t focus on how existing programs need an overhaul for the sake of sound fiscal deals.
The report found that onshore royalty rates haven’t been raised in a century and that there’s an imbalance between royalty rates being imposed on federal versus state lands. Bonding levels have stayed stagnant for half a century while the federal minimum bids and rents for onshore federal oil and gas projects haven’t changed in 30 years. “These antiquated approaches hurt not only the federal taxpayer but also state budgets because states receive a significant share of federal oil and gas revenues,” the Department of the Interior concluded.
Offshore leasing looks to be a better financial investment for the country, as leases are far pricier than their onshore counterparts. There’s also little to no barrier to entry besides capital which, as the department noted, means that “companies with poor environmental, safety, or reclamation histories are still allowed to bid for leases or acquire them from other companies.”
Enacting reforms that ensure states and the federal government receive more bang for their buck while oil and gas companies continue to wreak havoc on the environment and harm the very groups Haaland and others claim to care about is certainly an about face from Biden’s initial moratorium on on federal oil and gas leases, which he enacted shortly after taking office.
That moratorium was overturned in June after multiple states and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed a joint lawsuit against the president’s action. It doesn’t look as if the Biden Administration is very focused on fighting back against that judgment, especially as sagging poll numbers tied to rising gas prices has Biden releasing emergency oil reserves instead of rethinking how we power our country.