Biden's opening move against federal lands drilling
- Ben Geman, author of Axios Generate
The first phase of the Biden administration plan to thwart new oil and natural gas permitting on federal lands has arrived.
Driving the news: An Interior Department order Thursday imposes a 60-day freeze on new drilling permits, leases, lease extensions and other actions, though it "does not limit existing operations."
Why it matters: Oil production on federal lands is a smaller share of domestic output than it was before the fracking boom that's centered more on private lands.
The big picture: The temporary order comes ahead of what's expected to be a wider effort to limit new development, given that Biden's platform called for "banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters."
- But that said, it's still quite significant.
Yes, but: The effects of these policies could be limited in the near-term because many companies have a large inventory of existing permits.
- A new Goldman Sachs note says several oil-and-gas producers with the most exposure to federal lands "have indicated they have 3-4 years of inventory already permitted."