"The department recommended higher fees for oil and gas leases, but there was no sign the government planned to take global warming into account when weighing new applications."
"WASHINGTON — The Interior Department on Friday recommended that the federal government raise the fees that oil and gas companies pay to drill on public lands — the first increase in those rent and royalty rates since 1920.
The long-awaited report recommended an overhaul of the rents and royalty fees charged for drilling both on land and offshore, noting one estimate that the government lost up to $12.4 billion in revenue from drilling on federal lands from 2010 through 2019 because royalty rates have been frozen for a century.
The Interior Department said its goal is to “better restore balance and transparency to public land and ocean management and deliver a fair and equitable return to American taxpayers.”
But the report was nearly silent about the climate impacts from the public drilling program. The United States Geological Survey estimates that drilling on public land and in federal waters is responsible for almost a quarter of the greenhouse gases generated by the United States that are warming the planet."
Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman report for the New York Times November 26, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"U.S. Interior Blueprint Calls for Boosting Oil Royalty Rates" (Bloomberg Environment)
"Biden Sets Out Oil, Gas Leasing Reform, Stops Short Of Ban" (AP)
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