Biden administration blocks activist bid to reduce oil, gas production from federal land

(Bloomberg) – The Biden administration has formally rebuffed a bid by environmental activists to phase down oil and gas production on federal lands and waters, marking its latest nod to the endurance of fossil fuels.

Laura Daniel-Davis, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Land and Mineral Management at the Interior Department, said in a letter released Thursday that the agency couldn’t dedicate its “limited resources” to establishing a phase down program, given “competing priorities,” including implementing lease sales mandated by last year’s sweeping climate law.

Daniel-Davis did not address the substance of the legal and scientific arguments advanced by environmental, community and climate groups in their 85-page rulemaking petition last year, saying only that she appreciated “the thought and effort behind” their push. “This administration shares your concerns regarding the urgency of the climate crisis and is directing its limited resources in an effort to address them,” she said.

The decision follows administration approvals of the ConocoPhillips’s Willow oil development in Alaska and LNG exports from Alaska, as well as its support for provisions in the debt-ceiling deal that accelerate construction of Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s Mountain Valley gas pipeline.