U.S. State And Local Officials Call On Biden To Ban New Oil Permits

As many as 375 local and state elected officials are calling on the Biden Administration to institute a ban on new oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands and in federal waters and stop energy infrastructure for fossil fuels.

In the first week in office, President Joe Biden pushed in January new oil and natural gas leases pending completion of a review for potential changes to the regulations.

The local elected officials now want the federal government to play its role in averting a climate crisis and sent a letter to President Biden, as reported by The Hill.

“We can ban fracking in the City of Denver, but if we don’t do this at a national and international scale, we will continue to destroy our habitability on our planet,” Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds, one of the signatories to the letter, said in a statement carried by The Hill.

The 375 local and state officials also want the Biden Administration to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and revoke permits for drilling on sites that are less than 2,500 feet away from homes and schools.

The officials are also calling on the federal government to “support a just transition to clean energy for workers and communities impacted by fossil fuels.”

Republican-leaning states, for their part, sued the administration last month for its decision to impose a moratorium on new oil lease permits. Major oil-producing states, including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Alaska filed a joint lawsuit, while Wyoming filed a separate suit.

The $2-trillion infrastructure and tax plan of President Biden proposes eliminating tax preferences and implicit subsidies for fossil fuels that would boost government receipts by more than $35 billion over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury said last week. Tax preferences for oil, gas, and coal producers undermine the fight against climate change, the Treasury said.