(Headline USA) The Biden administration announced this week that it will cancel three planned oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet. even as gas prices continue to soar.
The Interior Department claimed the canceled sales in Alaska, which is home to more than 1 million acres of federal land alone, were “due to a lack of industry interest.” The canceled sales in the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, were due to “conflicting court rulings” that delayed work on the proposed lease sales, an official said.
President Joe Biden attempted to impose a moratorium on the sale of new leases as one of his first acts in office, but a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the move, saying that a number of states would suffer “irreparable injury” if lease sales were halted.
As a result, the Interior Department announced that it would restart the sale of oil and gas leases on federal land, but reduced the amount of land under consideration by 80% and increased the amount of royalties energy companies would have to pay the government.
Republicans have blasted the Biden administration for making it harder for energy companies to drill domestically, even as gas prices skyrocket. Just this week, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas reached $4.418, according to AAA.
Yesterday Americans paid the highest price for gasoline in history
At the same time Biden just cancelled our largest pending American oil & gas lease sale
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 12, 2022
Gas prices are at a record high, and Biden just canceled oil and gas leases in Alaska and the Gulf.
Joe Biden is directly responsible for the high cost of gas.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) May 12, 2022
