The Interior Department will take the greenhouse gas pollution produced by oil and gas operations on public lands into account before selling federal drilling rights, President Biden announced Friday. The administration paused lease sales on public lands early in its administration and, under court order, later announced plans for offshore auctions in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Alaskan coast, as well in several Western states. The Bureau of Land Management issued a report Friday showing oil, gas, and coal extracted from federal lands in 2020 alone were responsible for 900 metric megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.(E&E News, AP, The Hill, Reuters, Politico Pro $)
