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2022 could be a pivotal year for determining whether President Biden will secure a clean energy legacy and move away from the fossil fuel production that has dominated public lands policy for over a century.
The Interior Department is a key player in Biden's clean energy agenda, and is poised to pursue a dual-track of ramping up development of renewable energy on public lands and offshore while also addressing outdated regulations for mining coal and leasing federal oil and gas.
If reforms are enacted, like raising royalty rates for drilling and strengthening bonding requirements, they would represent the most significant changes to federal leasing practices for oil and gas in decades. The administration has also indicated a desire to address the climate impacts of coal mining and revamp the list of critical minerals to better reflect market conditions and national priorities and take into account climate consequences. In addition, efforts to stem methane emissions from abandoned infrastructure and plug orphan oil and gas wells are a high priority.
On the renewables front, Interior is on track to deploy historic investments in wind and solar energy development on public lands. The administration has set a goal to permit at least 25,000 megawatts of onshore renewable energy projects by 2025. The Bureau of Land Management currently has 54 renewable energy projects under evaluation in the permitting pipeline, and 40 of those proposed projects are solar. Interior just announced an offshore wind sale for New York with the potential for additional sales offshore California and in the Gulf of Mexico. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called the pivot toward developing renewable energy sources a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to fight climate change and create good-paying, union jobs in the United States."
As the demand for clean energy sources continues to grow, the Biden administration must continue to tackle the climate crisis head-on.
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I can’t get over the ultimate irony of a company draining an area that’s so drought prone. This is a national forest. It’s something that should be cared for, for people and not for profit. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
