The Interior Department is offering additional oil and gas leases with some modifications. Scott Pruitt, the former EPA boss is running for U.S. Senate.
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Interior declares new oil and gas lease sales, royalties hike
Friday’s announcement from the Interior Department saw another round of oil and natural gas lease sales on public land, as well as an increase to royalty rates.
Initially, the administration froze new leases on public lands within a few hours of President Biden’s election. But a federal court issued an injunction that summer against the order. In announcing the lease sales, the department cited this injunction.
The announcement stated that the Interior Department will issue final sales notifications for the upcoming sales Monday. The Interior Department announced a royalty increase, increasing rates by 12.5 to 18.75%.
According to the administration, the sale would include 173 parcels of land on approximately 144,000 acres. This is 80 percent less than the Trump administration’s acreage.
The story so far: In October, the Bureau of Land Management stated that it will include national greenhouse gas emissions in oil-and gas leasing decisions. Separately, the federal government stated that it would include the so-called social costs of carbon in leasing decisions.
Trump appointee Judge James Cain blocked the use the metric in February. However, an appeals court overturned that ruling in March. The department also announced that new lease sales would continue the following the ruling.
The Interior Department had previously announced an Offshore Lease Sale in the Gulf of Mexico. But, after a court declared those sales invalid, it said that it would not appeal.
Mixed reactions: Mixed responses were received from conservation and environmental groups. The spokesperson for the Center for Western Priorities said it was good news that Secretary Haaland’s team at Interior were listening to Westerners, and that they are working in the taxpayers’ best interests.
Interior will limit the sale of areas that have an existing oil and gas infrastructure. This will stop speculators from grabbing public lands with no future production potential. By raising the royalty rate, taxpayers will receive a fair share of the oil produced on these parcels.
However, the Center for Biological Diversity criticized this decision.
Randi Spivak (public lands director at Center for Biological Diversity), stated in a statement that the Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these leasing sales is a fabrication and a reckless failure by climate leadership. It’s almost as if they are ignoring the terrible effects of megadroughts and floods and just accept climate catastrophes as normal.
You can read more about the announcement here.
Trump’s EPA chief files to run for Senate
Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt will run to represent Oklahoma in the Senate.
Pruitt officially filed to run for the seat currently occupied by Sen.James Inhofe (R-Okla.) Inhofe stated earlier this year that he would no longer run for reelection.
It was been reported previously that Pruitt was considering a Senate bid.
Pruitt helmed the agency tasked with protecting the environment until resigning in 2018 amid several ethics controversies.
He faced scrutiny for his $50 per night deal to rent a condo co-owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist as well as for spending on his security detail, first-class travel and a soundproof booth in his office.
He also targeted several Obama-era environmental protections to rollbacks or changes, including climate regulations for power plants and oil and natural gas drillers, and clean water regulations.
In February, Inhofe announced that he would be retiring at the beginning of 2023. This triggered a special election to replace his position.
Pruitt will face off against a number of other Republicans in the June 28 primary, including Rep. Markwayne Mullinand Inhofe’s longtime chief of staff Luke Holland, whom the senator has backed.
Find out more about the upcoming election.
MCCARTHY REFUSES TO LISTEN TO EXIT RUMMORS
National climate adviser Gina McCarthy is pushing back on reports that she will soon depart her White House post.
Late Thursday She tweeted, Reports that I have resigned from my position as President Bidens National Climate Advisor are simply inaccurate.
McCarthy said that although we’ve made great strides in the past 14 months, there is still much to do. McCarthy also stated that he remains optimistic about the future.
However, it wasn’t reported that she had resigned. Multiple news outlets reported that she was preparing to step down.
ReutersThe first report on the potential exit was by. She noted that she could leave as early as next month. E&E News reported that she would leave in the coming months.
Vedant Patel, White House spokesperson, replied via email that there were no personnel announcements.
Gina and her entire team continue to be laser focused on delivering on President Bidens clean energy agenda, he added.
Sources claim that McCarthy was being talked about leaving her position, but they don’t know the details or the timing.
It is not unusual for White House officials after more than one year of service to be fired, but most will try to stay at the least until after the November midterm election.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, for instance, has said she plans to leave her role this year.
Learn more about the situation.
TUNE-IN TORISING,Available now as an apodcast.It’s politics without the screaming.
First time that wind power overtook nuclear and coal
Wind power was No. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, (EIA), was the 2nd source of power generation in the United States for the first time on March 29. This surpasses coal and nuclear power. said Thursday.
According to data from EIA, wind turbines in the U.S. produced 2,017 megawatthours of electricity on 29th. While there have been days in the past when wind generation separately outpaced coal and nuclear generation, the 29th marked the first day that it surpassed both power sources.
The complete story: March 29th, saw natural gas remain the largest source of power generation at 31%. This was followed by wind, coal, and nuclear.
This milestone comes just two years after the nation’s wind capacity surpassed that of nuclear capacity in September 2019. This did not immediately translate into higher wind power output than nuclear, as wind generators are built to operate at a lower capacity than nuclear generators.
Wind power generation often reaches an annual peak in spring when wind speeds tends to peak and electricity demands are at their lowest. This prompts coal- and nuclear generators reduce output. The EIA doesn’t project that wind will produce more electricity per month than either coal or nuclear at any time in the year or 2023.
You can read more about the milestone by clicking here.
WHAT WE’RE READING
- Louisiana loses challenge to federal greenhouse gas emissions policy: ‘We are disappointed’ (The Associated Press)
- California Ranked Nearly 100 Percent Clean Energy This Month (Bloomberg)
- Is your electric company blocking climate action? (Grist)
Finally, here’s something completely off-beat. Spring training
This concludes today’s post. We appreciate your reading. For the most recent news and coverage, visit The Hills Energy & Environment. We look forward to seeing you Monday.
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