The Biden administration reached a legal settlement Tuesday night with environmental groups, agreeing to block drilling on more than 58,000 acres of public land. The federal government will refrain from issuing drilling permits on 113 leases spanning 58,617 acres in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota under the settlement between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and a coalition of organizations led by WildEarth Guardians and of the Sierra Club. “Today’s agreement opens the door for the Biden administration to reverse the Trump administration’s recklessness and disregard for climate and the public interest,” Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ climate and energy program director, said in a statement Wednesday . “The oil and gas lease runs completely counter to climate action, we applaud the administration for agreeing to do the right thing,” Nichols said. CLIMATE WARRIOR DEMS SILENT ON MANCHIN BILL’S OIL AND GAS LEASING PROVISIONS An oil pump jack pumps oil into a field. (Reuters/Todd Korol/File Photo/Reuters Photos) The Bureau of Land Management — the DOI sub-agency charged with managing public lands — agreed to conduct an additional environmental and climate impact analysis before making a final decision on the future of drilling permits on the leases. The review will be conducted in accordance with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s order in April 2021 that prioritizes climate change as a criterion in such reviews. BIDEN ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS OIL AND GAS DRILLING PLANS, REVEALING TRUMP ERA CONTEXT “We can no longer ignore the devastating effects that continued fossil fuel leasing is having on the health of our communities and the future of our planet,” said Dan Ritzman, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Water Wildlife Campaign. “We remain optimistic that this agreement will pave the way forward for science-based public land management that serves the interests of people, not oil and gas companies,” he added. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks during a news conference on July 22, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File/AP Newsroom) The 113 leases were awarded to fossil fuel exploration and drilling companies during five lease sales held by the Trump administration in 2019 and 2020. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the five decisions in January 2021, just days before the duties of President Biden. The settlement on Tuesday represented the latest effort by the Biden administration to aggressively curtail the federal oil and gas leasing program as part of its climate agenda. Management has repeatedly delayed selling leases both onshore and offshore since taking office. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS During its first 18 months, the Biden administration has leased 71,251 acres of public land for oil and gas drilling, while the Trump administration leased 478,420 acres in its first 12 months. The DOI declined to comment.
