Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

Biden: Look at These Pretty Wind Turbines (Also, We’re Expanding Oil Drilling)

No one is pleased.

President Biden.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

An announcement Friday by the Biden administration to extend the nation’s offshore oil leasing program perfectly encapsulates the Catch-22 the president finds himself in over his climate goals. The press release brazenly advertises the drilling expansion plan as “Reflecting America’s Rapid and Accelerating Shift to Clean Energy,” all while reading like someone trying to convince you that they’ve got a gun to their head.

This plan was a long time coming. The Interior Department is responsible for establishing a five-year leasing schedule under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that will “best” meet the United States' energy needs, and the previous plan is about to expire. Lease sale 261, which was supposed to be held on Wednesday but has been delayed until later this fall, is the last one on the agenda.

The agency could, in theory, issue a schedule with zero lease sales over the next five years. But due to provisions added into the Inflation Reduction Act by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, such inaction would prevent the government from being able to open up more of the nation’s coast to offshore wind development. Before the Interior Department can put up any offshore acreage for wind, it has to have put up at least 60 million acres for oil in the previous year, the law says.

So instead of calling it an offshore oil lease plan, the agency is describing it as an offshore wind-enablement plan. The IRA’s handcuffs were referenced roughly four times in the press release, including in the first sentence, which reads, “Consistent with the requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act …” The plan to hold three oil and gas sales in 2025, 2027, and 2029 is the “minimum number” the department could schedule in order to continue the expansion of offshore wind, it said, and “the fewest … in history.” The subheading of the page even calls it a plan that “phases down oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico,” and the image paired with the announcement on social media featured wind turbines.

There’s nothing factually wrong about any of this. The final plan calls for significantly fewer sales than the 47 initially proposed in 2018 by the Trump administration, and a marked reduction from the 11 proposed by Biden last summer. The plan also restricts drilling to areas in the Gulf of Mexico that are already under development, rather than opening up new areas in Alaska or the Atlantic, as Trump wanted to do. But it does put the U.S. on a path to increased oil production, and at least one analysis asserts that the administration doesn’t even need to hold any more wind lease sales to achieve Biden’s clean energy goals.

It’s unclear who the apologetic tone or desperate image of wind turbines was for. By all accounts, the announcement was a letdown to all sides.

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Trump Will ‘Deal’ with Wind and Solar Tax Credits in Megabill, GOP Congressman Says

“We had enough assurance that the president was going to deal with them.”

Donald Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

A member of the House Freedom Caucus said Wednesday that he voted to advance President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” after receiving assurances that Trump would “deal” with the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits – raising the specter that Trump could try to go further than the megabill to stop usage of the credits.

Representative Ralph Norman, a Republican of North Carolina, said that while IRA tax credits were once a sticking point for him, after meeting with Trump “we had enough assurance that the president was going to deal with them in his own way,” he told Eric Garcia, the Washington bureau chief of The Independent. Norman specifically cited tax credits for wind and solar energy projects, which the Senate version would phase out more slowly than House Republicans had wanted.

Keep reading...Show less
Sparks

Majority of North Carolina Voters Want to Keep the IRA, Poll Finds

The state’s senior senator, Thom Tillis, has been vocal about the need to maintain clean energy tax credits.

A North Carolina sign and solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The majority of voters in North Carolina want Congress to leave the Inflation Reduction Act well enough alone, a new poll from Data for Progress finds.

The survey, which asked North Carolina voters specifically about the clean energy and climate provisions in the bill, presented respondents with a choice between two statements: “The IRA should be repealed by Congress” and “The IRA should be kept in place by Congress.” (“Don’t know” was also an option.)

Keep reading...Show less
Green
Sparks

The Trump-Elon Breakup Has Cratered Tesla’s Stock

SpaceX has also now been dragged into the fight.

Elon Musk.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The value of Tesla shares went into freefall Thursday as its chief executive Elon Musk traded insults with President Donald Trump. The war of tweets (and Truths) began with Musk’s criticism of the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives and has escalated to Musk accusing Trump of being “in the Epstein files,” a reference to the well-connected financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in federal detention in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The conflict had been escalating steadily in the week since Musk formally departed the Trump administration with what was essentially a goodbye party in the Oval Office, during which Musk was given a “key” to the White House.

Keep reading...Show less