Old North News

The Biden administration continues to limit domestic energy production as energy prices rise in North Carolina.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has recently halted anticipated oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, a decision officials say is adding to the country's high energy costs.

Two North Carolina senators are in favor of federal oil drilling, as they recently voted for a bill that would increase U.S. oil production. 

"The domestic actions that restrict oil production worsen the inflation problems and the budget squeezes that too many families are facing across the states," Wayne Winegarden, Senior Fellow in Business and Economics of Pacific Research Institute, told Old North News. "The expectation of greater supply by allowing more oil production would help reduce gas prices quickly and incentivize greater supply, which could help offset some of the inflationary pressures."

Others dispute this and say that production is not in decline.

“Production is essentially higher than it’s been in a couple decades,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said during a congressional hearing, according to the House Appropriations Committee. “On the federal lands, we’re doing what we need to do and we’re following the law and making sure that we are moving those issues forward.”

According to The Hill, President Biden issued an executive order stopping all pending oil and gas leasing on federal property shortly after taking office last January. He has afterward stopped a number of oil leases. The Hill reports that the administration has now prevented oil and gas lease sales in Alaska's Cook Inlet and in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The lease in Alaska would have covered over 1 million acres. The Hill asserts that the administration's big reveal comes at a time when Biden’s approval ratings from voters have sunk on economic issues, specifically. Congressional Republicans have also continued to go after the administration’s energy positions after average nationwide gas prices went up to an all-time high earlier.

According to AAA, on May 12, the national gas price average was $4.42 a gallon, a 7.8% surge from last month when the average was $4.10 each gallon.

On March 31, the day of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve release, gas was $4.22 per gallon, 20 cents lower than the present. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) information demonstrates that total oil production in the U.S. has been on the decrease for three consecutive months, not matching administration officials' assertions that domestic production is at historic highs.

According to the U.S. Senate, On May 4, Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Richard Burr were among 53 Senate Republicans who voted in favor of Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) plan to mandate the immediate establishment of a new five-year federal offshore oil and gas leasing plan. 

The plan, which is intended to decrease energy fees in the U.S., mandated lease sales for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.