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Shortly after taking office, President Biden ordered the Interior Department to temporarily pause new oil and gas leases on public lands while considering how to reform the century-old program that has long favored the industry at the expense of taxpayers, communities, and our climate. Following that order, the Interior Department recently held a public forum to hear from a broad range of stakeholders, including Native American tribes, community leaders, environmental justice organizations, and the oil and gas industry itself.
At the forum, representatives of the oil and gas industry made several deceptive — and often outright false — claims, which they are likely to repeat during a hearing on the leasing pause in the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee today. Among the various falsehoods being espoused by industry trade groups like the Western Energy Alliance and the American Petroleum Institute are claims that grossly misstated economic data in studies they have funded, and denial that the industry is sitting on millions of acres of unused leases and permits while also decrying other uses for our nation's public lands beyond energy development.
Faced with the potential for widely popular and long-awaited reform, it appears the industry is turning to its well-worn misinformation playbook. However, calls for reforming the antiquated oil and gas leasing system are growing, and the hearing today will feature other voices that are supportive of the Biden administration's comprehensive review of the leasing system.
Secretary Tom Vilsack shuts down 30x30 misinformation
Speaking virtually at an annual conference of agricultural journalists, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack pushed back on misinformation circulating about the ambitious conservation goal to protect 30% of America by 2030 (the 30x30 goal). The secretary lamented the misinformation being perpetuated by anti-conservation groups and made it clear that 30x30 is strictly about encouraging conservation, saying, "This discussion surrounding 30x30 is really off-base. None of it involves taking over anyone's land from them or using eminent domain. It's not going to happen." The Biden administration is expected to release a report on 30x30 this week as called for in his Executive Order on climate.
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Unlike carbon dioxide or most other air pollution, methane isn’t released by burning fossil fuels, but comes from leaks and other releases from oil and gas infrastructure, among other sources. A growing body of research has shown that these oil and gas emissions are larger than previously thought, and a likely driver of the global increase of methane in the atmosphere. Fixing those leaks in theory should pay for themselves by saving money, because capturing the gas means companies capture more product. That potential makes plugging leaks from oil and gas infrastructure the most effective and cheapest way to slow emissions."
