Biden betrays his promise and opens up for new drilling
The Biden administration has proposed a program that bans new drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts but allows their limited expansion in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska, with the sale of 11 licenses in 5 years. In this way, the president betrays the electoral promise to ban any new drilling permits for gas or oil in federal lands and waters to fight climate change. And he risks discontenting both environmentalists and the fossil energy industry, which he pushed for greater expansion.
The move also comes after the supreme court ruling that canceled the powers of the environmental protection agency to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants, thereby undermining the government’s efforts to combat global warming, even though just yesterday the presidential envoy for climate John Kerry assured AFP that the United States “is determined to achieve its objectives and can succeed”, despite that ruling. However, the government has reserved the option to block any concessions in its plan, which runs from 2023 to 2028.
Biden’s turning point, the US media explain, is an attempt to balance the promises on the fight against climate change with the growing pressure of inflation and demand to maintain or increase oil production (about 15% of US crude oil comes from drilling in federal waters) against the backdrop of the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is also an attempt to partially comply with the demands on fossil energy of moderate senator dem Joe Manchin to obtain his decisive vote, after the resistance of the past months, in a new package that should include significant chapters. on energy transition and climate.
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