WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas companies will have to pay more to drill on federal lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a final rule issued Friday by the Biden administration.
The Interior Department’s rule raises royalty rates for oil drilling by more than one-third, to 16.67%, in accordance with the sweeping 2022 climate law approved by Congress. The previous rate of 12.5% paid by oil and gas companies for federal drilling rights had remained unchanged for a century. The federal rate was significantly lower than what many states and private landowners charge for drilling leases on state or private lands.
The new rule does not go so far as to prohibit new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, as many environmental groups have urged and President Joe Biden promised during the 2020 campaign. But officials said the proposal will lead to a more responsible leasing process that provides a better return to U.S. taxpayers and focuses oil and gas drilling in areas most likely to be developed, especially those with existing infrastructure and a high potential for oil and gas reserves.
Insider Q&A: CIA's chief technologist's cautious embrace of generative AI
Some imported animal products using production methods illegal in New Zealand
What we're watching: The Great
Adams, Reyna, Turner, Ream are US concerns ahead of Copa America
Growing skincare use by children is dangerous, say dermatologists
Free trade deal with India challenging but not impossible
China gives monks a list of things they can’t do after the Dalai Lama's death — Radio Free Asia
Nina Dobrev hospitalized with a neck brace due to serious e
The Beatles: Sir Sam Mendes to direct four films
College baseball notebook: Conference tournaments to decide NCAA automatic bids and many at
Judges sceptical of Trump's immunity claim in election subversion case