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WASHINGTON – President Biden plans to end new leasing of oil and gas in the federal territory on Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter said, setting up a showdown with the oil industry over the future of energy American.
The Biden administration has drafted an order to impose the moratorium while he conducts a review of the federal oil and gas leasing program, people said, in what is potentially a first step towards his campaign commitment to terminate future leases. The ordinance is expected to be included in a government-wide package to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost land conservation.
As a candidate, Mr Biden had said he would push the country to ‘move away from the oil industry’ because of its pollution, and he acted faster and more broadly to do so than many thought. .
In addition to the moratorium on oil and gas leasing, Mr Biden is expected to set a goal of protecting 30% of federal lands and waters by 2030, the people said. The president is also planning to re-establish a White House Scientific Advisors Council that was established under the Obama administration. The New York Times and Washington Post earlier reported on Mr. Biden’s plans.
Administration officials discussed holding a climate change summit, possibly on Earth Day, April 22, one of the people said, but officials have yet to finalize these plans. Mr Biden pledged 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, named climate change one of four crises he hopes to tackle during his administration.
Photo:
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Stock prices of US oil companies fell last week. Mr Biden used his early days in office to cancel a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, attempt to block borers from accessing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and begin a review of more than 100 environmental policies, many of which are of the Trump administration’s efforts to ease regulations for oil companies.
This move is already strongly rejected by the oil industry at a time when other industries have taken a more opportunistic approach to dealing with the new president. Oil industry executives view Mr. Biden’s actions as a showdown, an attempt to bolster their ability to thrive, and plan to combat it through several legal challenges and intensive lobbying among allies in Congress.
World leaders hailed President Biden’s decision to join the Paris climate agreement. As the President reverses many of his predecessor’s climate policies, here’s what it means for the global race to meet ambitious emissions targets. Photo: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images
The Biden administration said its decision on the Keystone XL pipeline was discussed last week during an appeal with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which Biden “acknowledged Prime Minister Trudeau’s disappointment with the decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit, ”according to a statement released by the White House.
During the campaign, Biden was criticized by former President Donald Trump for his intention to suspend the new fracking on federal lands, including in major battlefield states such as Pennsylvania. Mr Trump has accused his rival of banning all fracking, which extracts oil and gas from shale rock. Mr Biden countered that most fractures take place on public 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 tackle 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 administrator Gina McCarthy to focus on international climate change issues and national. Mr Kerry is the President’s special envoy for climate change and Ms McCarthy heads a new office for domestic climate policy in the White House.
Write to Timothy Puko at [email protected], Ken Thomas at [email protected] and Andrew Restuccia at [email protected]
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