Only five days have passed since the end of COP26 in Glasgow, during which United States President Joe Biden promised the US would “lead by example” in the fight against climate change, but his administration has already There has been a serious blow to expectations. of environmentalists. The Interior Department yesterday launched the largest oil and gas drilling license auction in the Gulf of Mexico, where the environmental disaster of the oil spill, one of the largest in April 2010, coincided with a crude oil spill from deep waters. Horizon Platform. The affected area, about 352 thousand square km, is twice the size of Florida, and according to US media it is estimated that reserves may contain 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil and 4.2 cubic tons of methane.

Once licensed, it will take years for companies to start pumping crude oil, which means they could continue to produce beyond 2030, when scientists say it’s time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The world will need to get on track. be avoided. Washington’s decision has sparked anger from environmentalists, as reported by the Guardian, underlining that it was a clear refutation of Biden’s promise to suspend new drilling in public waters and fields made during the election campaign. Is.

The auction, the biggest single sale since 2017, now undermines the president’s green credibility. “Coming in the aftermath of the climate summit is simply shocking. It is hard to imagine a more hypocritical and dangerous thing for this administration – said Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity – that is a huge disappointment ». more There was also criticism from members of the Democratic Party: “This administration went to Scotland and told the world that American climate leadership is back, and is now about to distribute more than 80 million acres of public water for fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico. fuel companies. This is a step in the wrong direction,” commented Raul Grijalva, chairman of the House’s Natural Resources Committee (DEM). In all, 267 organizations of various kinds have already written a letter to the US President asking not to make such concessions, because “his administration has the authority to do so”. However, writes the Guardian, it seems that such requests were not given the least amount of attention. According to critics, the current government has distributed drilling permits at a rate of more than 300 per day since he took office, which is higher than Donald Trump’s presidency. Additionally, last week, the US administration proposed another round of auctions in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and other western states in 2022. The Biden government defended itself by explaining that it was forced to ban the auction after a federal judge, upholding the appeals of a dozen Republican states, rejected a moratorium on license sales pending a comprehensive review by the president. But legal experts such as Max Sarinsky, a senior attorney at the New York University School of Law, reiterated that the court’s ruling does not preclude the administration from stalling or delaying or curtailing the auction, risking other appeals.