US House panel asks if federal leasing is back to ‘business as usual’

Oil & Gas Journal: The US Department of the Interior realistically can’t return to a “business as usual” attitude and aggressively issue oil, gas, and mineral leases on land it oversees without considering the potential climate change consequences, witnesses told a US House Natural Resources subcommittee on July 16.

“The [Trump] administration’s fossil fuel ‘energy dominance’ agenda has been unbalanced and destructive. It has turned an economically and environmentally sound oil and gas leasing program into an industry-led free-for-all,” said David J. Hayes, who was DOI’s deputy secretary during both the Obama and Clinton administrations.

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