US President Joe Biden has earmarked Wednesday as climate day at the White House to announce a slew of executive actions. The major focus will be the president’s order to federal agencies asking them to determine the parameters of the oil and gas leasing ban on federal lands. The New York Times reported that Biden will order the conservation of “30 by 30”, to protect nearly a third of all federal land and water by the end of the decade. He will also create a task force and issue a memo making climate change a national security priority. The new environmental justice roles will be announced, along with a position to help displaced coal workers. Point to be noted that Biden will also ban new drilling leases on federal lands, as he promised in the campaign.
President Biden also pledged to end the leasing of publicly-owned energy reserves as part of his climate agenda. It follows a 60-day suspension of new drilling permits for US lands and waters announced last week. The postponement is designed to allow time for officials to review the impact of oil and gas drilling on the environment and climate. It is noteworthy that President Biden a host of executive orders including to rejoin the Paris Agreement, cancel the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and tell agencies to immediately review dozens of Trump-era rules on science, the environment, and public health, in his first day in office. Most environmental groups hailed the expected oil and gas drilling suspension as a bold step and urgent action needed to slow climate change.
But, the oil industry groups slammed the move and said Biden had already eliminated thousands of oil and gas jobs by killing the Keystone XL oil pipeline on his first day in office. The president of the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma, Brook Simmons said, “This is just the start. It will get worse. Meanwhile, the laws of physics, chemistry, and supply and demand remain in effect. Oil and natural gas prices are going up, and so will home heating bills, consumer prices, and fuel costs”. A 60-day suspension order at the Interior Department didn’t limit existing oil and gas operations under valid leases. So, the activity would not come to a sudden postponement on the millions of acres of lands in the West and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.