U.S. Cancels All Q2 Oil, Gas Lease Sales

The United States Department of the Interior will cancel all oil and gas lease sales from public lands through the end of June, according to a Bureau of Land Management press release issued on Wednesday. On the very day President Biden was inaugurated, the DoI pulled back the reins on issuing permits for oil and gas exploration on federal lands and in federal waters. It did this not by banning permits outright but by limiting which Interior employees could approve permits. The number of employees to approve permits has dwindled significantly to…