In an unprecedented and controversial move just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office, outgoing President Joe Biden is working to ban oil and gas leases across the Nevada region for the next 20 years.
Critics argue this decision, part of Biden’s broader progressive environmental agenda, would undermine the United States’ goal of being energy independent, raise costs for Americans, and hurt U.S. jobs in the energy sector. As the nation prepares for a change in leadership, many conservatives view this as another example of the president’s aggressive push to impose regulations that benefit green energy activists while crippling traditional industries that have long fueled the U.S. economy.
The timing of the move, just days before Trump’s inauguration, is seen as an attempt to lock in policies that could be difficult to reverse.
The outgoing Biden Administration announced plans to prevent oil, gas, and geothermal leasing for over two decades on more than 264,000 acres of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, including federal lands where interest in drilling has peaked.
Biden quickly submitted a request to withdraw the land from potential leasing, triggering a two-year ban on new mineral leases in the area during the approval process.
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