(USNewsMag.com) – Biden’s administration recognized in a March 3 climate agenda paper that fossil fuel firms would benefit from lower drilling fees and Americans would prosper from improved energy security. But because of their focus on climate change, they increased the Cook Inlet fees for royalties.
Former director Amanda Lefton of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) noted that they endorse this option because a lower fee would not contain a sufficient amount to account for climate change’s major difficulties. Instead of charging drillers 16.67%, which would increase bids and speed up offshore resource development, she suggested the DOI boost the royalty price to 18.75%.
The assistant secretary of the DOI, Laura Daniel-Davis, approved Lefton’s suggestion. In her November 2022 judgment, Daniel-Davis said that the 18.75% increase was the best balance of economic and environmental issues. She left out that the reduced charge would have increased energy security for Americans.
In the cause of climate change, the Biden administration has been accused of restricting domestic energy generation and relying on foreign rivals.
Republicans and the energy sector were critical when Biden rejected the Cook Inlet Sale 258, planned under Trump, in May 2022. Then the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) required the government to sell by year’s end.
BOEM conducted the lease auction on December 30. The auction received one $62,983 offer for a 2,304-acre parcel of the 958,202 available.
The now-infamous Inflation Reduction Act was co-authored by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who, after the publication of the document, is now criticizing the administration of President Biden for its aggressive execution of the IRA. He said that he is outraged by the memo’s contents, which make it abundantly obvious that Biden’s administration is actually putting its extreme climate agenda before the interests of the citizens of Alaska and America. He stated that he was disgusted by the contents of the document.
He accused the administration of President Biden of disrespecting the purpose of Congress and making nice with environmental organizations at the price of strengthening the energy security of the US and ensuring the safety of American citizens.
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