Interior staff had plans beyond Biden's, to end fossil fuel leasing, with Haaland unaware: watchdog

Interior Department staffers appeared to try to go beyond a directive by President Biden for the agency to pause new oil and gas leases in the U.S. by considering ways to eliminate them, based on internal department documents obtained by a federal watchdog group. 

The directive came in the form of a Jan. 27, 2021, Biden executive order in which he directed agency Secretary Deb Haaland to "pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters," pending a review of such fossil fuel development practices.

It also called for Haaland to consider "whether to adjust royalties" – essential the government's cut of the profits that companies make from selling the fossil fuel they extract from government land.  

The documents, obtained by the watchdog group Functional Government Initiative through a Freedom of Information Act request, also appear to show Haaland was for months unaware of the staffers' larger plan, raising concerns about whether it was unfolding without her oversight.

By June 8, the agency's Office of Policy Analysts drafted revenue estimates for three onshore oil and gas leasing scenarios, one of which was "no new leasing."

That estimate gave a breakdown of the financial impacts if zero acres were leased to produce fossil fuel. It was sent directly to the Bureau of Land Management for review, the FIOA'd documents show. 

The following day, Principal Deputy Solicitor Robert Anderson sent the onshore revenue analysis, and a draft interim report on the overall federal oil and gas leasing program, to the White House's Council on Environmental Quality for general counsel Justin Pidot to review.

While Anderson touted the report as a "product of a tremendous amount of staff work and outreach," he also stated Haaland had yet to see it.

"We have not provided it [interim report] to Secretary Haaland for her review because we first want to get your comments and edits," Anderson said in the email to Pidot, the documents show. "Let me know if you would like to meet to discuss the draft."

Just The News asked the Interior Department to confirm whether Haaland had indeed not seen the interim report, as Anderson stated, and whether she was knew her office had considered no new leasing in the revenue estimates.

A department spokesperson declined to verify.

On July 27, 2021, Haaland testified in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on the department's fiscal 2022 budget.

After reviewing the hearing and documents, the watchdog group concluded Haaland was "still in the dark about the substance of the [interim] report" and was "unable to discuss the report in any meaningful way."

The group also said Haaland appeared "confused" by questions from the senators, though she stated the interim report would be released "soon."

The watchdog group say no interim report was released to the public and the final report was not issued until November 2021.

The group also said the final report was "far weaker than the no-leasing scenario" the Interior staffers initially put forth.

When asked about that comment, the department spokesperson referred Just The News to the final report, but did not clarify Haaland's comment that the interim one – which FGI indicates is separate from the final one – would be released.

The Biden administration announced in March 2022 it would resume oil and gas leasing on federal lands.

FGI spokesman Peter McGinnis says the department's "radical plan to cripple U.S. energy production" ultimately didn’t happen. However, the plan getting as far as it did, perhaps without Haaland’s oversight or input, is "troubling," he also said.

"Her subordinates felt comfortable going around the secretary, and she had such a limited understanding of what was happening at her own department that she was unable to provide meaningful answers to questions posed at a Senate committee hearing," McGinnis said.

The Interior spokesperson also said oil and gas development is continuing on federal lands and waters, and production is at an all-time high.

"In fact, the spokesperson said, "nearly 35 million acres of federal lands and waters are already under lease. Yet more than half of those areas already under lease are non-producing, and thousands of permits that have been approved sit unused by industry."

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