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The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced plans to spend $1 million on a new advertising campaign to portray the oil and gas industry as part of the solution for lowering carbon emissions by taking credit for the low price of natural gas as a significant contributing factor for lowering coal use. While cheap natural gas may have had an impact on shuttering coal operations, the assertion that the industry is a climate champion is undermined by recent reporting that both BP and Chevron paid millions of dollars to an Alaska Native Corporation to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling exploration.
Several presidential candidates have released proposals in recent months to suggest banning hydraulic fracturing, better known as "fracking," and terminating oil and gas leasing on public lands. As part of the rollout for the new ad campaign, the head of API told a gathering of oil executives, members of Congress, officials from the Trump administration and labor union representatives that a fracking ban would quickly lead to a global recession. The assertion was swiftly debunked by multiple economists.
Interior restructures, consolidates FOIA review process
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed a Secretarial Order to restructure the agency's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response protocol by establishing a "Departmental FOIA Office." The order calls for the "Deputy Chief FOIA Officer" overseeing the new office to have the authority to "assert control over any aspect of any FOIA request." Critics of the move worry that it will further hinder the public disclosure of information.
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The job of BLM leaders in Washington, D.C. is to make decisions that respond to directives from the president and Congress. Moving them west won’t change that dynamic – but it could impoverish agency decision making in several ways.”
