Interior Department approvals to drill oil and gas wells on public lands have dropped significantly in recent months, a shift from 2021, when the Biden administration topped the Trump administration’s permitting record in its first year.
The Bureau of Land Management in January approved just 95 permits for oil and natural gas wells across federal lands in the United States, a plunge from the zenith of 643 issued last April, according to a review of data by E&E News.
The reason for the permitting slowdown is unclear, but it comes as Biden administration officials have been pushing the oil and gas industry to increase drilling amid surging gas prices. Many environmental groups also have been frustrated with the rapid pace of approvals, seeing it as a betrayal of President Biden’s pledges to confront climate change. They say the approvals carved into the number of backlogged permits Biden inherited by nearly 1,000 by year’s end.