Biden is feeling the pressure of sinking poll numbers and an American electorate struggling to make ends meet The New York Post reports.
In response the President is restarting oil and gas lease sales on federal lands, something he previously ended in favor of saving the environment.
The move signals defeat for the President’s climate agenda and a win for American oil and gas production.
Biden took over a country that was a net exporter of oil and gas and turned it into one that needed to beg enemies for oil production in order to alleviate the pain of increased prices.
The Post reports further:
The renewed lease sales are the latest move by the Biden administration to shore up the country’s energy supply as the average price of a gallon of gas remains stubbornly above $4.
In its announcement, the Interior Department said that BLM would make approximately 144,000 acres of federal land available for lease beginning Monday — an 80% reduction in the acreage originally considered for oil and gas exploration.
The Department also announced that energy companies will have to pay the government royalties amounting to 18.75% of the value of what they extract from any new lease, up from 12.5%.
“How we manage our public lands and waters says everything about what we value as a nation. For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of Tribal Nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations.”
On inauguration day Biden suspended leases but the current move follows a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling that injuncted his order, saying that only Congress has the power to pause offshore oil and gas leases.
This is a sign that Biden and his administration are following the order and throwing in the towel on that fight agains the 13 states who were fighting him.
[READ NEXT: Biden’s Own Study Sinks His Energy Narrative]
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