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A new analysis by the Center for Western Priorities finds that in the month after President Trump signed the first emergency coronavirus bill, the Interior Department took dozens of policy actions unrelated to COVID-19, moving ahead with unfettered oil and gas leasing, removing protections for endangered wildlife, and expanding mining operations across the country.
CWP’s analysis identified 57 separate actions taken by Interior Department agencies since March 6, when President Trump signed the first coronavirus emergency bill. Those 57 actions include 34 public comment periods that were opened or closed by the Interior Department despite numerous requests from local elected officials and members of Congress that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt suspend rulemakings during the pandemic.
In March, the Interior Department held seven oil and gas lease sales, despite a glut of oil production leading to the collapse of global oil prices. The agency also paved the way for a private mining road to be built through Gates of the Arctic National Preserve in Alaska. Secretary Bernhardt’s former firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, has lobbied the Interior Department to approve the project on behalf of a Canadian mining corporation.
Oil companies warn of widespread bankruptcies
Almost 40% of oil and gas producers face insolvency within the year if crude prices remain near $30 a barrel, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which serves oil-rich Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Northern New Mexico. The findings mirror a recent survey by the Dallas Fed, which covers Texas.
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It’s not pretty down here. Probably the most activity we’re seeing now is from folks moving rigs out of the oil fields and into storage yards.”
