President Biden’s administration opened the door Friday to more offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters over the next five years, setting a course for future U.S. fossil fuel extraction just a day after a major climate setback at the Supreme Court. The proposed offshore drilling program between 2023 and 2028 would ban exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. But by leaving open the possibility of new drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, the announcement falls short of Biden’s campaign promise to permanently end federal fossil fuel leasing. The plan moves the country away from its pledge to halve the nation’s global warming pollution by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and help avoid even more intense fires, storms and droughts caused by rising of temperature. Biden’s climate agenda now depends on whether Democrats can pass a Senate reconciliation package that includes strong environmental policies. “The Supreme Court has just put a lead bullet around its ankle with respect to its executive branch,” said John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “Unless you get a settlement, along with the restrictions that the Supreme Court has put in place, I think there’s no way you’re going to have the 50 percent reduction by the end of the decade.” But the offshore plan, along with other events this week, underscores the political and legal limits in the United States on tackling global warming and poses risks for Democrats as Americans face record gasoline prices ahead of November’s midterm elections and those on the left demand tighter limits on fossil fuels. On Thursday, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court struck down the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to force electricity providers to abandon burning coal. And Biden’s Interior Department was forced by a lower court order to lease acreage in the Western United States this week for onshore drilling. The consequences of Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels by continuing to burn oil and other fossil fuels is huge for humanity: If left unchecked, global warming could delay the fight of hunger, poverty and disease worldwide. The International Energy Agency has urged a halt to investment in new fossil fuel supplies to meet this goal. “We will slow down the progress we could otherwise make,” said Brian O’Neill, chief scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute and lead author of a UN report on the impacts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. and vulnerability. The Interior Department is considering 10 potential auctions in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland stressed that the plan has not been finalized and that her department is considering the option of having no lease sales at all. The plan narrows the areas considered for oil and gas leasing from one proposed under President Donald Trump in 2018. “A Proposed Program is not a decision to issue specific leases or to approve any drilling or development,” Haaland said in a statement. “Since day one, President Biden and I have made clear our commitment to transitioning to a clean energy economy. During his run for the White House, Biden pledged to ban new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters. “No more drilling on federal lands, period,” he said at a campaign event in New Hampshire. “Period, period, period.” In the Senate, there is growing optimism that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.), who effectively ended negotiations on an earlier iteration of a sweeping package, they can strike a DEAL. In recent days, Democratic leaders agreed on a proposal to lower prescription drug prices for seniors, a policy that would be part of the broader economic package. Since December, when Manchin blocked Biden’s original Build Back Better proposal, the senator has expressed reservations about the price of any potential package, warning of the rising national debt and soaring inflation. But with only 50 seats in the Senate, the party needs Manchin’s vote to pass any legislation. As a result, party leaders have backed down and cut many of their domestic priorities from the proposed package. However, energy policy is expected to remain at the center of the potential bill, as Manchin has long called for protecting the United States’ energy security and increasing its energy independence from foreign nations. But advisers say negotiations on what the energy and climate components of the deal will look like are still ongoing and final decisions are likely weeks away. In a statement Friday, Manchin said he was “pleased” the plan came out, though he was “disappointed to see that ‘zero’ lease sales are even an option on the table.” “Leasing programs are a critical component of American energy security,” Manchin said. “I hope the administration will finally green light a plan to expand domestic energy production, done in the cleanest way possible, while also taking the necessary steps to bring the offshore leasing program back to send the necessary signals.” in the market to provide price relief for every American.” Inside the administration, Biden officials said the court’s decision was not a surprise and that they had largely expected to lose the case. But in the hours since the decision was released, senior aides remain shocked and disheartened as they gauge the limits on their ability to fight climate change, officials said. Administration officials are beginning to plan the next steps for how to move forward with Biden’s climate agenda, they said, but admitted there is a sense of desperation permeating all offices working on climate policy. Gina McCarthy, Biden’s national climate adviser, who created the EPA rule at the center of the Supreme Court case, has stressed in recent days that the administration is focused on finding alternatives, particularly through the Defense Energy Production Act , to continue meeting its climate goals. . “Using the Defense Production Act to accelerate all this domestic production is really, I think, one of the ways that this president is making it clear to people that he’s going to continue to drive the change that’s necessary,” said McCarthy. he said in a recent interview with the Washington Post, referring to Biden’s push to make rare earth minerals available for the electric vehicle market. But Biden’s efforts to curb fossil fuel drilling have faced serious legal and political setbacks. Immediately after taking office, he followed with an executive order directing the Interior to halt all new lease sales on public lands and waters while it reviewed how to adjust the program. A federal judge in Louisiana last year blocked that pause. And Biden has faced criticism for the hire from Manchin, along with many Republicans. Federal law requires the Interior Department to publish a plan for new offshore oil and gas lease sales every five years, but the law gives the administration broad discretion in deciding where and whether to allow new drilling. “It is extremely important to recognize that the Biden administration has the discretion to propose a five-year leasing program that does not provide for new lease sales,” said Drew Caputo, vice president of land, wildlife and ocean litigation at Earthjustice. environmental law firm. Republican lawmakers and oil industry lobbyists have urged the administration to boost America’s fossil fuel production to help contain record prices at the pump. The national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.84 on Friday, according to AAA, up more than 50 percent this year. “If the administration is serious about lowering prices at the pump, it should expand access to oil and gas on federal lands, not kill them,” Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the top Senate Energy Republican and Natural Resources Commission, said in a recent statement. It takes about five to 10 years to start producing oil from a new offshore lease, according to the interior ministry. That means the proposal issued Friday will have little immediate impact on current prices at the pump — though it could have major implications for the United States’ ability to meet its commitment to cut emissions by 2030. Biden administration officials privately acknowledge that rising fuel prices could jeopardize congressional Democrats’ chances in November’s midterm elections. They have taken several steps to lower gas prices that are anathema to climate activists, including approving a historically large drawdown from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The western and central Gulf of Mexico is the heart of the U.S. offshore energy business, where about 1.7 million barrels of oil a day are extracted mostly from the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and piped to refineries that they will turn into gasoline, jet fuel and plastics. The Gulf accounts for about one-seventh of all domestic crude produced. Energy companies have worked for years to drill for oil and gas far beyond the Gulf, on the East and West coasts. But those hopes dimmed in 2010 when a rig drilling an offshore exploratory well exploded, killing 11 crew members and causing the worst marine oil spill in US history. The Deepwater Horizon disaster killed hundreds of thousands of birds, spilled millions of barrels of oil into the ocean and stymied efforts to expand offshore oil exploration in the United States. After the spill, President Barack Obama halted plans to expand drilling in parts of the eastern Gulf near Florida, as well as…
