WASHINGTON – President Biden plans to end the new oil and gas lease on federal territory on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said, and set up a showdown with the oil industry over the future of US energy.
The Biden government has issued an injunction to impose the moratorium while it reviews the federal oil and gas leasing program, the people said, in what may be a first step toward its campaign promise to end future leases. The order is expected to be included in a package of government measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost land conservation.
As a candidate, Mr. Biden had said he would urge the country to “move away from the oil industry” because of the pollution, and he has acted faster and more widely to do so than many expected.
In addition to the moratorium on oil and gas leasing, Mr. Biden is expected to set a target of protecting 30% of federal land and water by 2030, the people said. The president also plans to reestablish a White House board of scientific advisers established during the Obama administration. Mr. Biden’s plans were previously reported by Bloomberg News and other publications.
Administrators have talked about holding a climate summit, possibly on Earth Day, April 22, one of the people said, but officials have not yet finalized those plans. Mr. Biden promised during his campaign to convene a summit of leaders from around the world to discuss climate change early in his administration.
President Biden, here with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, has named climate change one of four crises he hopes to address during his administration.
Photo:
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Stock prices of US oil companies have fallen over the past week. Mr. Biden used his first days in office to revoke a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, try to prevent drills from accessing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and start a review of more than 100 environmental policies, many of which are the Trump administration’s efforts to ease regulations on oil companies.
The move is already taking a sharp backlash from the oil industry at a time when other business sectors have taken a more opportunistic approach in dealing with the new president. The leaders of the oil industry see Mr. Biden’s moves as confrontational, an effort to master their ability to grow, and intend to combat this through various legal challenges and extensive lobbying among allies of the Congres.
World leaders welcomed President Biden’s move to return to the Paris climate accord. As the president reverses much of his predecessor’s climate policy, this is what it means for the global race to meet ambitious emissions targets. Photo: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images
Biden’s government said his decision on the Keystone XL pipeline was discussed last week during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which Mr Biden “acknowledged Prime Minister Trudeau’s disappointment with the decision to license the Keystone XL. pipeline to withdraw, ”according to a lecture released by the White House.
Mr. Biden was criticized during the campaign from former President Donald Trump over his plans to suspend new fracking on federal grounds, including in key battlefield states such as Pennsylvania. Trump accused his rival of banning all fracking, which would allow oil and gas to be extracted from shale rock. Mr. Biden countered that most fracking takes place on state or private land, so his proposal would have limited impact on practice.
The president has named climate change one of four crises he hopes to address during his administration, along with the pandemic, the economy and racial inequality. The president called on former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Obama Environmental Protection Agency Director Gina McCarthy to focus on international and domestic climate change, respectively. Mr. Kerry is the president’s special envoy for climate change, and Ms. McCarthy heads a newly formed White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
Write to Timothy Puko at [email protected], Ken Thomas at [email protected] and Andrew Restuccia at [email protected]
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