The Biden administration's interior department is calling for an increase in leasing fees for gas and oil drillers after a review of practices on federal lands.
However, the report largely ignores climate change issues and does not recommend stopping leasing federal lands to gas and oil drillers, something President Biden campaigned on.
The report was commissioned by the president at the start of the year.
It outlines fiscal reforms for America's oil and gas programs at the federal level. The report said that it currently 'fails to provide a fair return to taxpayers, even before factoring in the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers.'
Biden has faced criticism from climate activists for continuing to auction drilling bids in the Gulf of Mexico, something at odds with what the president campaigned on.
The report argues that these programs are outdated and haven't had their fees raised in a century.
The Biden administration's interior department is calling for an increase in leasing fees for gas and oil drillers
Biden has faced criticism from climate activists for continuing to auction drilling bids in the Gulf of Mexico, something at odds with what the president campaigned on
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (pictured) said the reforms would allow the United States to pursue fiscal and environmental goals
'Consideration should be given to raising royalty rates and, to the extent allowed by statute, to increasing the current minimum levels for bids, rents, royalties, and bonds,' the report states.
The review also demands Congress act 'on pending legislation to provide fundamental reforms to the onshore and offshore oil and gas programs.'
The report has been criticized by environmental groups, who argue it doesn't do enough to address climate change.
'These trivial changes are nearly meaningless in the midst of this climate emergency, and they break Biden's campaign promise to stop new oil and gas leasing on public lands,' said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
'Greenlighting more fossil fuel extraction, then
