GOP senators push offshore leases
Interior secretary responds the industry is sitting on 9,000 permits and 8 million acres
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday pressed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about why the Biden administration was holding back oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters despite record gasoline prices this year.
The questions during a Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing come two weeks after the Interior Department released a plan that proposed lease sales in established drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Alaska but left open the option of holding no lease sales over the next five years, citing the the need to transition from fossil fuels.
Asked for an explanation, Haaland said oil and gas companies have 9,000 unused drilling permits at their disposal, as well as 8 million acres of offshore leases they aren’t tapping.
“Because of how things have gone the last several years, there are thousands of permits and lands under lease that could be used by these companies,” she said. “My job as interior secretary is to conserve and manage these natural resources and cultural resources for every single American.”
For the time being, global demand for crude remains high, with the Energy Department forecasting that it will increase 2 percent next year to more than 101.5 million barrels per day.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski questioned whether the administration had considered the damaging effect their climate policies could have on domestic energy prices.
“As we transition from a fossil-based society, a transition requires there be a path forward that is sensible for your economy,” she said. “I think that it’s unacceptable for the department to consider a five-year plan with no lease sales.”
Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline prices are $4.63 a gallon on average, down slightly from last month but up more than 50 percent from a year ago.
Analysts have attributed the spike to a loss of global oil production during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as rising demand and supply disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Republicans have argued that the administration needs to increase leasing on federal lands and waters to assure global markets that U.S. oil and gas production will be there for years to come.
“Oil and gas companies are not investing right now because the environment has been terrible for them,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. “You’ve sent every message since the Biden administration took office that oil and gas investment will not pay off in America.”
With scientists warning that nations need to begin rapidly
decreasing emissions immediately to avoid the worst effects of global warming, Democrats are coalescing around the strategy of allowing oil and gas drilling to continue in areas with existing production but not to expand it to new areas.
Last year the International Energy Agency, which advises governments on energy policy, warned that nations need to halt oil and gas development this year if they are to meet their target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., questioned whether the lack of investment by oil and gas companies didn’t stem from the realization that automobile companies were shifting production from gasolinepowered vehicles.
“We’re at a moment the automobile industry says within 10 years they will only sell electric cars,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of discussion in board rooms at hydrocarbon companies, ‘Do we really want to make billion-dollar investments?’ ”