Biden to halt new oil and gas leasing on federal land, water

President Biden plans to halt new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters Wednesday, delivering on one of his campaign pledges, The Washington Post reports.

"The White House has prepared documents that would pause new oil and gas auctions on federal land and water as the new administration reviews the program," says anonymous administration sources, the Post's Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni report. "The moratorium would not affect existing leases, meaning drilling would continue on public land in the West as well as in the Gulf of Mexico." One source said the administration considered halting new federal coal leasing, but probably won't.

"Fossil-fuel leasing on federal and tribal land accounts for nearly a quarter of the country’s annual carbon output. The drilling program also generated $11.7 billion in tax revenue for the federal, state, local and tribal governments last year, according to the Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue," Eilperin and Grandoni report. "Environmentalists say the pause will allow the new administration to assess whether taxpayers are being adequately compensated for the minerals extracted from land they own."

Fossil-fuel industry groups say a freeze on new leases will hurt state and local economies, and deprive the Treasury of much-needed revenue, Grandoni and Eilperin report.

Biden also plans to outline steps on Wednesday "aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and elevating the role of science in federal decision-making. Other new policies include protecting 30 percent of federal land and water by the end of the decade and identifying climate change as a national security priority," Eilperin and Grandoni report.