As energy prices soar, Biden administration jacks up costs to drill on public lands

foxbusiness.com:

Pipeline welder Lynn Bugsy Allen argues hes barely getting by after Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline. 

The Biden administration on Friday finalized a rule that will make it more expensive for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands, despite soaring energy prices and inflation still trending upwards.

The Department of the Interior announced it has revised the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) oil and gas leasing regulations, which will raise royalty rates for the first time in 100 years and update the federal onshore oil and gas leasing framework. Under the new rule, the minimum royalty rate the government is paid will jump from 12.5% of revenue to 16.67%.

The move also increased the amount of the bonds that companies must secure before they start drilling tenfold – from a bond minimum of $10,000 set in 1960 to $150,000.

Several of the provisions in the rule were already codified by the Inflation Reduction Act, such as raising the rent the government charges to oil companies for using its land and increasing the government’s share of the profits from that oil.

Oil pumpjacks in the Inglewood Oil Field in California. A new rule by the Biden administration will make it more expensive for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands (Mario Tama/Getty Images / Getty Images)

JAMIE DIMON WARNS INFLATION, INTEREST RATES MAY REMAIN ELEVATED

The Department of the Interior said the rule will ensure a balanced approach to the development of the lands, provide a fair return to taxpayers and help steer oil and gas development away from important wildlife habitat and important cultural sites.

BLM will also preference land lease offers that are close to existing infrastructure or have a high potential for oil and gas