In writing for the Associated Press, Mathew Brown and Michael Phillis uncovered a previously well-kept secret from the wind and solar energy lobbies. They had been had by the cleverness of Senator Joe Manchin. The man who is alternately hated by both parties. It came months after the current administration had canceled $192 million of leases in the Gulf of Mexico. But the industries set back were short-lived.
In order to get more money to support failed renewable energy on public lands, oil and gas industry lobbyists, with Senator Manchin’s help, were able to push through a deal that no climate change alarmist could love. Just the opposite, in fact.
While the Inflation Reduction Act concentrates on so-called clean energy incentives that might reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, it simultaneously buoys oil and gas interests by mandating the leasing of vast areas of public lands and off the nation’s coasts. And it locks renewables and fossil fuels together.
If the Biden administration wants wind and solar on public lands, it must first offer new oil and gas leases.
As a result, US oil and gas production, along with carbon dioxide emissions, will keep growing. Andrew Gillick of Enverus, an energy analytic company said this ends the idea that fossil fuels will become obsolete. The folks that think oil and gas will be gone in 10 years are not thinking through what this means.
Both supply and demand will increase over the next decade, and all these plans for Net Zero and decarbonization will begin to look like what they are, stupid, silly, impossible; take your pick.
The law reinstates within 30 days the 2700 square miles of Gulf leases that had been withheld. It ensures companies like Chevron will have a chance to expand and override concerns of previous judicial rulings. The fossil fuel industry’s ambitions are now directly linked to wind and solar development.
The bill prohibits leasing of federal lands and waters for renewable energy unless the government has offered at least two million acres of public lands and 60 million acres in federal waters for oil and gas leasing during the prior year. The law does not require the leases to be sold, only to be offered for sale.
The leasing provisions happily mark a failure in the efforts of environmental zealots to impose a nationwide leasing ban. It scuttles Biden’s promise to stop all oil and gas development on his first day in office.
A stream of potential drilling sites is crucial for companies to maintain future production because wells can take years to develop, and some yield nothing, said Jim Noe, an industry lobbyist. He worked with the Senate staff on the climate bill leasing provisions.
The demand for oil and gas will not decline. These new leases will bring many high-paying jobs, unlike the mythical jobs of the renewable energy industry.
Intelligent people understand that the country cannot run on the wind and sun, yet they tell us this story daily. At last, we have sensible legislation that understands this.
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