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Among other broad policy objectives intertwined in President Biden’s “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” is the direction to the secretary of the interior to “pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands [and] in offshore waters.” This new indefinite moratorium on new leasing will require the “completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices.”
This action follows last week’s Secretarial Order 3395, issued by Acting Secretary of the Interior Scott de la Vega, that broadly suspended delegated authority to field personnel to “issue any onshore or offshore fossil fuel authorization, including but not limited to a lease, amendment to a lease, affirmative extension of a lease, contract, or other agreement, or permit to drill.” The order also included a suspension of the authorization to issue rights of way
During his first week in office, President Joe Biden has implemented policies that are detrimental to the health and prosperity of the American people.
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Only a day after taking office, the new Biden administration announced a temporary suspension of new drilling permits on federal land and foreshadowed further efforts to place a moratorium on leasing. Though not unexpected, the move is a shot across the bow for energy producers across the country, and particularly in states with prolific federal lands development like New Mexico.
Acting Secretary of the Interior Scott de la Vega issued Secretarial Order No. 3395 that temporarily suspends delegations of authority regarding leasing and permitting on federal lands, with a significantly reduced staff able to approve such items. This order does not halt leasing or existing development, and at its face is a temporary measure, but is certain to create bottlenecks that last well-beyond the 60-day limit on the order.