Biden Lifting Federal Land Oil/Gas Drilling Leases With Convenient Pre-Election Timing

When Biden took office, he signed a broad moratorium on permits and leasing for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. It was one of the dozens of actions he took in his first week in office. It was part of his climate change and green new deal initiative. He made lots of grandiose climate promises to his radical leftist voters, and this seemed to be the first step in making good on those radical promises. People were concerned about the long-term impact this would have on oil and gas production and supply in the country, but the Biden Admin cared more about their agenda than the American people.

Then the country predictably spiraled into a shortage of oil and gas due to a combination of terrible policies and actions including this moratorium and the Russia conflict, and Americans felt the effects in skyrocketing gas prices.

Back in February, then White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanoloulos, who asked why the White House didn’t take Sen. Tom Cotton’s recommendations to lift federal land oil drilling restrictions. Psaki dismissed Cotton’s ideas, saying they wouldn’t “solve any problems.”

“I would also note that, on oil leases, what this actually justifies, in President Biden’s view, is the fact that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, on oil in general, and need to — and we need to look at other ways of having energy in our country and others.”

And so, although lifting all those restrictions could almost immediately impact the supply of oil and gas in this country, reduce our dependence on foreign countries, and lower the price of gas for every American, the Biden Administration was apparently unwilling to do that because their climate agenda was more important that the financial suffering of American citizens.

That is, until the Biden Admin realized that they are getting absolutely crushed in the polls and their party risks historic losses in the upcoming midterm election. Then they decided to put their climate agenda aside and resume. Honestly, why now? It’s not because they care about Americans. It’s because they care about keeping political power.

According to the Wall Street Journal‘s article titled, “Biden Administration Resumes Oil Leases on Federal Land,”

“The Biden administration announced lease sales for oil and gas drilling on federal land Friday, but said it would sharply reduce the acreage available for leases and charge higher royalties on the oil and gas produced.”

Apparently, despite the fact that they were saying that lifting these restrictions wouldn’t “solve any problems,” the Biden Admin “outpaces Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands and waters,” according to The Washington Post.

“One year after announcing a halt to any new federal oil and gas leasing, Biden has outpaced Donald Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands. After setting a record for the largest offshore lease sale last year in the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior Department plans to auction off oil and gas drilling rights on more than 200,000 acres across Western states by the end of March, followed by 1 million acres in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.”

It’s like they’re trying to play both sides of the game and failing miserably at both. They’re acting like they aren’t going to allow drilling because they made all kinds of climate promises, and they just let Americans suffer with sky-high gas prices caused largely by their policies. But then they decide to sort of allow drilling, but with conditions that restrict the positive impact of the drilling, and only when it’s convenient for their political power. And then climate radicals are mad that they’re not making good on their campaign climate promises to eliminate fossil fuels. Ultimately, no one on any side of the issue is happy right now. Maybe we’ll see gas prices go down a little, but again I ask, why now? Obviously, the timing of this is to have a “political win” before a potentially devastating midterm election. It really is all about political game-playing and power. The American people are just unfortunate victims in this power game.