Biden wants oil companies to pay much more to drill on federal lands

  • 📰 YahooNews
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 90 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 39%
  • Publisher: 59%

Malaysia News News

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News,Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

The minimum royalty rate the government is paid from oil and gas production on federal lands would rise for the first time in a century, to 16.67 percent from 12.5 percent.

Oil and gas drillers would have to commit more than 10 times as much money to guarantee their wells won't pollute under an Interior Department proposal announced Thursday, the first such update to the program in more than a half-century.

"We don't want the taxpayers holding the bag in the future," Laura Daniel-Davis, Interior principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in a phone interview. Administration officials have accused oil and gas companies of hoarding federal land without drilling it, saying that is bad for consumer energy prices, and say they are trying to fix an antiquated rule book that shortchanges taxpayers. Daniel-Davis said the administration wants to reduce incentives for "speculators - less responsible actors that have been out on the landscape.

Interior officials are also working on a new rule they say will prioritize conservation on par with energy development, mining and recreation, a sea change for how it manages public lands. They have delayed a new, legally required five-year plan for offshore drilling, which they plan to release late this year. And in the coming months the Environmental Protection Agency is slated to set new rules to tax and limit emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas operations.

The law also boosted the floor for bidders trying to lease oil and gas land to $10 an acre, up from $2. The new proposal would adopt that and, after 10 years, set it to keep rising with inflation. The law also set new minimum fees for what leaseholders pay to maintain their acreage and for new bidders to nominate areas for bidding, and Interior wants to put those in place long term, too.

Environmentalists have asked for the administration to put more emphasis on climate effects in the revised rules, and use them to potentially phase out new oil and gas leasing. Biden, as a candidate, had pledged to end drilling on federal land, but the new proposal doesn't go that far.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 380. in MY

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Oil and gas companies would pay more to drill on public lands under new Biden ruleThe Biden administration is proposing new rules for the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to raise costs for energy companies to drill on public lands and strengthen requirements to clean up old wells where drilling is completed or abandoned
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »

Oil and gas companies would pay more to drill on public lands under new Biden ruleEnergy companies would have to pay more to drill on public lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a new rule announced Thursday by the Biden administration.
Source: AKNewsNow - 🏆 460. / 53 Read more »

Oil and gas companies would pay more to drill on public lands under new Biden ruleThe Biden administration is proposing new rules for the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to raise costs for energy companies to drill on public lands and strengthen requirements to clean up old wells where drilling is completed or abandoned.
Source: ksatnews - 🏆 442. / 53 Read more »

Oil and gas companies would pay more to drill on public lands under new Biden ruleOil and gas companies would have to pay more to drill on public lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a new rule announced Thursday by the Biden administration.
Source: NBCLA - 🏆 319. / 59 Read more »

Hunter Biden investigation: Republicans say Democrat helped prove their point Joe Biden knew about business dealsRepublicans claim that an exchange during the Hunter Biden hearing shows a House Democrat inadvertently proved that President Joe Biden knew about Hunter Biden's business deals.
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »