Biden to push for 'social cost' fees on oil leases

 DailyWire:

The Biden administration is likely to resume new oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands after winning a temporary victory in federal court.

Bloomberg News reported Friday that the Department of the Interior would resume its plans for new oil and gas drilling after a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on a lower court ruling that blocked the administration from using a higher “social cost of carbon” in its environmental analyses.

“With this ruling, the Department continues its planning for responsible oil and gas development on America’s public lands and waters,” Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg. “Calculating the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions provides important information that has been part of the foundation of the work the Interior Department has undertaken over the past year.”
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A number of energy-producing states and industry groups sued the Biden administration in February over its adjustments to the “social cost of carbon” in its environmental analyses, specifically those that relate to fossil fuel production. According to The Washington Post, Biden dramatically increased the estimated “social cost of carbon” to $51 per ton of carbon dioxide released into the air from between $1 and $7 estimated by the Trump administration. The states and industry groups argued in their lawsuit that the new estimates would cost “hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars” and “may be the most significant regulatory encroachment upon individual liberty and state sovereignty in American history,” Bloomberg reported.

Federal District Judge James J. Cain issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden administration from using the higher estimate. Instead of using the lower estimate, the administration responded by shutting down all new oil and gas leases while it appealed the decision. The decision impacted a number of oil and gas leases, including a huge oil lease of some 170,000 acres in Wyoming, as the Post reported.

The Biden administration has repeatedly claimed that its energy policies are not to blame for skyrocketing energy costs for U.S. consumers, arguing that the U.S. has 9,000 unused drilling permits for oil and gas, but industry experts have noted that such a claim lacks context. However, Biden shut down the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, and the administration has previously recommended much stricter regulations for new leases apart from the “social cost of carbon.” Congressional leaders from both parties have criticized Biden for not doing enough to stimulate domestic energy, especially in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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What this really reflects is the Biden administration's government greed to drive up the cost of gas while they try to avoid responsibly for the high price of gas.  There is no data given in support of this additional cost to producers that will be passed on to Americans.  It is another way Democrats are gouging Americans at the gas pump.