US temporarily suspends drilling permits on federal lands and water

US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that temporarily suspends oil and gas leasing and drilling permit on federal lands and waters, reversing the Trump administration’s energy and environmental policies.

The suspension, which will last for 60 days, is part of the new US administration’s wider plan to combat climate change and advance environmental justice.

Effective immediately, the order places a temporary moratorium on activities related to the implementation of the ‘Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program’ in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, subject to legal and policy review.

It also reinstates the original withdrawal of certain offshore areas in Arctic waters and the Bering Sea from oil and gas drilling.

The Interior Department will immediately begin to implement the orders, and make recommendations to the President.

The US Department of the Interior said in a statement: “The Interior Department has issued a secretarial order that temporarily elevates review of relevant agency decisions, including final agency actions, regulatory actions, and energy development.

“During the 60-day window that the order may be in effect, decision-making over these matters will be reserved for department leadership for the purposes of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise.”

However, the new executive order does not affect the ongoing operations under valid leases and does not prevent the issuance of leases, permits, and other authorisations by those specified.

The Secretary of the Interior is entailed to review the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program. It will also conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the oil and gas programme, in accordance with applicable law.

The latest move follows the formal revoking of the existing Presidential Permit for the TC Energy’s $8bn Keystone XL pipeline by Joe Biden, citing that the project ‘disserves the US national interest’.