Groups sue Interior for documents behind federal oil, gas leasing report

Capitol Crude: The US Energy Policy Podcast

President Joe Biden’s executive order on tackling the climate crisis, among other things, launched a review of existing fossil fuel leasing and permitting practices. Climate and conservation groups had hoped the review would drill down into federal oil and natural gas leasing activity’s impact on climate change, but the report issued Nov. 26 was mostly silent on climate. Now, groups represented by the Western Environmental Law Center are suing Interior to find out if the report was scaled back to court political favors.

Senior editor Jasmin Melvin spoke with WELC executive director Erik Schlenker-Goodrich about Interior’s report, what groups hope to achieve from their lawsuit and how prices at the pump and geopolitical pressures are playing into this debate.

Stick around after the interview for Chris Van Moessner with the Market Minute, a look at near-term oil market drivers.

This podcast was produced by Jasmin Melvin in Washington and Jennifer Pedrick in Houston.