As climate fight shifts to oil, Biden faces a formidable foe
President Joe Biden’s bid to tackle climate change is running straight through the heart of the U.S. oil and gas industry — a much bigger, more influential foe than Democrats faced when they took on the coal industry during the Obama years.
Coal dominated U.S. power generation for decades, with the bulk of that fuel coming from the massive strip mines of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin — a market that collapsed in recent years as utilities switched to natural gas.
Fast forward to 2021 — and oil and gas have eclipsed coal to become the biggest human source of greenhouse gas emissions from public lands and waters, federal production data indicates. That’s made government fuel sales an irresistible target for Democrats as they try to rein in climate change.
Biden’s election has put big oil companies on the defensive after largely having their way in Washington under President Donald Trump. But in taking on petroleum companies with a moratorium on oil and gas lease sales, Biden picked a foe that spent lavishly over decades to secure allegiance from Republican lawmakers.
The industry is also deeply enmeshed in local economies — from Alaska and the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountain drilling hub of Casper, Wyoming — posing a challenge to the Democrat as he tries to navigate between strong action on the climate and recovering from the pandemic’s financial devastation.
“You’re not hurting the big guys that are doing all the development. You’re hurting these little guys that are dreaming up where no one else thought there was any oil and gas,” said Steve Degenfelder, land manager for familyowned Kirkwood Oil & Gas in Casper, a community of about 60,000 known as The Oil City.
Trump’s final months in office saw a huge spike in new drilling permits after his administration sped up approvals. As a result, some companies with the biggest presence on public lands have announced that they are ready to weather changes under Biden.
An executive from Devon Energy told investors last month that the company was “ready to roll with the punches” and has about 500 drilling permits in hand. That will last the company for years in Wyoming and New Mexico.
“They expected this .... They prepared for it,” said University of Oklahoma Associate Professor Robert Lifset, who teaches history of the U.S. energy industry. “But the difference now is going to be stark. (Oil and gas companies) don’t get to run energy and environmental policy in the way they once did.”
Gone from power in Washington are former industry lobbyists including Trump’s Interior Department secretary, David Bernhardt, who oversaw a loosening of rules for drilling. They’ve been replaced in many instances with environmentalists and industry critics. Biden’s nominee for Interior secretary, New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, has a history of anti-oil activism.
Just a week after his inauguration, Biden announced the sales moratorium while officials review potential climate impacts and whether energy companies are paying enough. He’s following a familiar template — a 2016 Obamaera moratorium on federal coal sales that Trump and other Republicans seized on as evidence of a “war on coal” by Democrats.
That last “war” was against a retreating army: Coal production in Wyoming peaked in 2008 — and by the time of the moratorium, most major coal companies had gone bankrupt and scuttled plans for major expansions.
The oil industry stumbled last year during the
coronavirus pandemic and a price war, but now companies such as Devon, EOG Resources and Occidental Petroleum are poised to expand their presence on public lands, including in the Powder River Basin.
Less insulated against the policy changes are smaller companies such as Kirkwood Oil & Gas, operating in downtown Casper since it was founded by William Kirkwood in 1965. It’s now run by his sons with about 40 employees and drilling in several western states.
A company like Kirkwood can spend years piecing together federal leases like a jigsaw puzzle and assessing the profitability of oil and gas deposits as market conditions and oilfield technologies evolve, said land manager Degenfelder.
But after last year’s price drop and now the leasing moratorium, its plans to further develop areas such as western Wyoming’s Upper Green River Basin — home to two of the most productive U.S. onshore gas fields — are on hold.
While some countries move away from fossil fuels,
brothers Steve and Bob Kirkwood are on the lookout for places that aren’t, such as Colombia, They’re also considering private lands in west Texas and exploring other options such as mining metals used in electric car batteries.
Oil from federal and tribal lands makes up about about a quarter of U.S. production.
Oil and gas companies and their supporters gave about $136 million in the last election cycle, mainly to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Kirkwood’s owners and their wives donated more than $15,000 to Trump’s re-election campaign and other GOP causes, records show.
Trump supported the U.S. oil business, Steve Kirkwood said. “Biden will support it in Saudi Arabia, Iran — everywhere else.”
Taxes on energy production and infrastructure in Wyoming help bankroll schools, roads and public services. In the Powder River Basin, petroleum operations now provide most of the property tax base in some counties.
WASHINGTON » In a highly unusual breach of security last month at the air base that operates the Air Force One presidential aircraft, an apparently aimless intruder went undetected for several hours and walked on and off an airplane on the flight line before his quirky headgear gave him away.
He was wearing what an Air Force investigative report released Thursday described as “a bright red or pink cap that partially covered his ears and had distinctive balls on top that looked a little like mouse ears.”
An airman in the operations office at Joint Base Andrews, located in Maryland just outside Washington, saw the man on the flight line and became suspicious, partly because of the headgear, and called security. Officials said he never got close to Air Force One.
“To be frank, I’m just being honest, we had no idea we had an unauthorized civilian on the base. He could have roamed around for a lot longer had it not been for that particular airman that figured out he doesn’t quite fit,” said Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general who briefed reporters on his findings.
The Feb. 4 intrusion was reported the same day by the Air Force, which opened an internal investigation to determine how it happened and what could be done to minimize chances of a repeat. The probe found three main security failings, starting with “human error” by a gate security guard who allowed the man to drive onto the base even though he had no credentials that authorized his access. Hours
later, the man walked undetected onto the flight line by slipping through a fence designed to restrict entry. And, finally, he walked onto and off a parked airplane without being challenged, even though he was not wearing a required badge authorizing access to the restricted area.
The day of the incident, the officials said the intruder was turned over to local law enforcement because there was at least one outstanding warrant for his arrest. His name has not been released. The inspector general’s report said he had “an extensive arrest record,” but further details were blacked out.
“Security forces actually never saw him transition from the open gate to the aircraft,” said Said, the inspector general. Aside from his odd hat, the intruder’s clothing — dark pants and jacket and black high-top sneakers — could have made him appear to be a contractor, Said said, although he should have been challenged anyway, not least because he had no visible badge authorizing his presence.
“The good news
is, once
alerted, security forces apprehended him pretty darned quickly — the minute he came off the plane,” he said.
Said said the modified Boeing 747 that serves as Air Force One for presidential travel was never at risk and that it is kept behind more layers of protection at Andrews. “That area is exceptionally secure,” he said.
Unimpeded, the unarmed intruder got aboard a C-40, a transport jet primarily used by members of the Cabinet, Congress and military combatant commanders. He did no harm and the Air Force investigation report, which was heavily censored by the Air Force before it was released Thursday, concluded that he had no plan to cause harm to Air Force personnel or equipment. His purpose could not be definitively determined.
“The evidence supports the conclusion that (blank) was simply wandering around the base and did not enter the base to meet anyone,” the report said. “During questioning, (blank) said he came on base because he wanted to see airplanes.”