Biden signs bill to reinstate fossil fuel leasing on federal lands

President Biden signed a new Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday, which was the main cause of the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes several green energy provisions opposed by the fossil fuel industry, but the bill also orders the Department of the Interior DOI to take a series of steps to boost fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters. The legislation requires the DOI to reinstate Lease Sale 257, a massive offshore oil and gas sale that spanned 80.8 million acres across the Gulf of Mexico, within 30 days of enactment.

The issuance of leases from Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 257 should not be a concern, said Erik Milito, National Ocean Industries Association President, to FOX Business. The legislation is clear and mandatory. The leases must be issued, and the lawsuit must be dismissed, he said.

In November of last year, the DOI held a lease sale that generated more than $191 million in bids for 308 tracts from fossil fuel companies despite criticism from several prominent Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups. A federal court blocked the sale in January, ruling in favor of a coalition led by Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club, which argued that the Biden administration did not properly analyze the climate impacts of the sale.

The Biden administration opted not to appeal the decision in March. The American Petroleum Institute API, a group representing large segments of the fossil fuel industry, intervened and appealed on behalf of the companies involved in the sale. The case is before a federal appeals panel.

While reinstating lease sale 257 is a positive step forward for American energy leadership, the legislation as a whole falls well short of addressing America's long-term energy needs, Frank Macchiarola, API senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs, told FOX Business in a statement.

The API and several other industry groups wrote a letter to House leadership last week urging them to reconsider the legislation. The groups disagreed with the corporate minimum tax, natural gas tax and the tax on crude oil included in the bill.

Despite their criticism of Lease Sale 257, several prominent Democrats who previously slammed new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and waters voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act.

After the disastrous lease sale was rightfully revoked, the Biden administration had a clear choice to make, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in March that the administration did not appeal the court ruling blocking Lease Sale 257. Why would they appeal the decision and continue to defend the previous administration's climate denialism and massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry? Or would they accept the ruling, follow federal environmental law, and seize this rare opportunity to realign the Interior Department's offshore leasing program with climate science? The administration made the right decision. Inflation Reduction Act requires the Biden administration to hold three offshore lease sales that it had canceled in May and ties new renewable energy leasing to mandated onshore oil and gas leasing.