President Joe Biden will move Monday to block all future oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of federal waters — equivalent to nearly a quarter of the total land area of the United States, according to two people briefed on the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement is not yet public.
The action underscores how Biden is racing to cement his legacy on climate change and conservation in his last weeks in office. President-elect Donald Trump, who has described his energy policy as “drill, baby, drill,” is likely to work with congressional Republicans to challenge the decision.
Biden will issue two memorandums that prohibit future federal oil and gas leasing across large swaths of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the two people said. The oil and gas industry has long prized the eastern Gulf of Mexico in particular, viewing the area as a key part of its offshore production plans.
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Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team, said in an email: “This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
The move could have the biggest impact in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for about 14 percent of the country’s crude oil production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Industry operations there focus on a small sliver of federal waters off Louisiana’s coast.
Average national cost of gasoline per gallon in the US (monthly average) first went over $3 nearly two decades ago. Today it’s $3.07. The July 2006 average of $3.025/gallon would have the purchasing power of around $4.75 in today’s dollars. What are people really thinking they should be paying for gasoline in a world that needs to be moving AWAY from using fossil fuels?
Seriously, we’d see a move away from massive SUVs in a heartbeat if Americans had to pay what we do in the UK for petrol. It’s over twice as much here.
For some reason they think it’s a right to take 3 tons of their own personal metal on a two hour round trip every day.
The problem with those numbers is that gas is a totally inelastic demand for anyone who can’t afford an EV. Actual wages haven’t gone up 60% in 2 decades, so paying 4.75 today would hit a lot harder than paying $3 in 2006.
I can’t disagree with your first sentence. However.
Yes, but by that logic, actual fuel cost has gone down. I was 3 dollars then and it’s 3 dollars now. But now wages in pure dollar amounts are much higher.
60% seems close enough between, say, 2006 and 2022
But again, that’s wages in raw dollar amounts. Adjusted for inflation, people don’t make more, but then adjusted for inflation, gas is literally cheaper than it used to be. You have to either adjust for inflation for everything, or nothing.