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Updated March 4th, 2023 at 16:15 IST

Leaked internal memo brings Biden administration's climate agenda to light

A memo revealed that the Biden administration admitted to the fact that charging fossil fuel firms less to drill would ensure "greater energy security".

Reported by: Deeksha Sharma
Biden
Image: AP | Image:self
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A memo accidentally leaked on Friday revealed that the Biden administration admitted to the fact that charging fossil fuel firms less fees to drill would ensure "greater energy security" in spite of its plans to increase royalty fees. According to Fox News, Amanda Lefton, the erstwhile director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said last year that the Department of the Interior (DOI) would go ahead with hiked royalty fees in the Cook Inlet near Alaska. 

The recommendation was approved and signed off by Laura Daniel-Davis, the DOI Assistant Secretary. "If a Cook Inlet prospect would be developed, there would be additional government revenues and greater energy security for the State of Alaska, especially if development of natural gas resources in the Cook Inlet ameliorated the long-term supply challenges facing the Anchorage area," Lefton said in the memo.

"Nevertheless, because of the serious challenges facing the Nation from climate change and the impact of [greenhouse gasses] from fossil fuels, BOEM is not recommending this option since it would not include an appropriate surcharge to account for those impacts," she added. 

Leaked memo leaves West Virginia Senator 'appalled'

Lefton urged that the government must charge an 18.75% royalty fee instead of an alternative of 16.67%. Daniel-Davis later said that she signed off the decision as "this rate constitutes the most reasonable balancing of environmental and economic factors for the American public", without mentioning that doing so would result in greater energy security, which was written in the memo. 

Criticising the leaked memo, Sen. Joe Manchin, who helped author the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), said that he was "appalled by its contents, which make crystal clear that this administration is literally putting their radical climate agenda ahead of the needs of the people of Alaska and the United States". 

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Published March 4th, 2023 at 16:15 IST

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