WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2021) The Biden administration will undertake later this month a review of oil and gas drilling on all Federal lands approved by the cabinet of former President Donald Trump in order to prevent waste of resources and environmental harm, the US Interior Department said on Tuesday.
"The federal oil and gas program is not serving the American public well. It's time to take a close look at how to best manage our nation's natural resources with current and future generations in mind," Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis said in a statement.
Daniel-Davis invited the public to participate in a virtual forum on the issue scheduled for March 25th.
Environmental groups are vehemently opposed to fracking used to extract fossil fuels from shale basins. They charge that the mixture of water, salt and chemicals injected into the earth results in toxic pollutants that have been linked to cancer and mutations. The process is also destructive to aquatic life and ecosystems, environmentalists say.
President Joe Biden suspended the issuance of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water areas after he assumed office on January 20. Biden has set a target of halving the US carbon footprint by 2035 and committed to investing $400 billion over the next decade on "clean energy" projects such as wind, solar and water.
The Interior Department noted that the Trump administration had offered for lease more than 25 million acres of public land onshore and more than 78 million acres offshore for oil, gas and mineral development.
But only 5.6 million acres onshore and 5 million acres offshore were purchased, it said, adding that the result "clearly indicates that it is time for the Interior Department to take steps to better manage our public lands".
In total, of the more than 26 million acres under lease to the oil and gas industry, nearly 13.9 million, or 53 percent, were non-producing, the Interior Department said.
Of the more than 12 million acres of public waters under lease offshore, over 9.3 million, or 77 percent, were idle. Onshore and offshore, the oil and gas industry currently held approximately 7,700 unused, approved drilling permits, it added.
