ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 12, 2021
Approvals for companies to drill for oil and gas on U.S. public lands are on pace this year to reach their highest level since George W. Bush was president, underscoring President Biden’s reluctance to more forcefully curb petroleum production in the face of industry and Republican resistance. The Interior Department approved about 2,500 permits to drill on public and tribal lands in the first six months of the year. That includes more than 2,100 drilling approvals since Biden took office January 20. His pick to oversee those lands, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, was an adamant opponent of drilling on federal lands while in Congress and a co-sponsor of the liberal Green New Deal. But the steps taken by the administration to date on fossil fuels are more modest. Environmentalists contend the administration has authority to take executive action that would stop further permits but has caved to Republican pressure.