The Biden Administration announces a 60-day pause in the issuing of new oil and gas leases on federal land and revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Associate Director of the Tulane Energy Institute Dr. Eric Smith said Louisiana doesn’t do much drilling on land, but this move makes one thing clear.
“I’m quite sure that anything that was put into place by executive action and modifications that were made by Trump will be under attack by the Biden Administration,” said Smith.
Smith said it’s part of the back and forth on energy policy that has happened over the last decade-plus as the White House changed hands politically.
The Keystone does not run through Louisiana but Smith said we do utilize the sour crude carried by the pipeline.
“Our refineries are designed to run partially on it so we could see more issues with curtailments and shutdowns of Louisiana refining which is the downstream,” said Smith.
The Biden Administration argues these steps are necessary to reduce the amount of climate change inducing carbon produced by the US, and vital for meeting the minimum standards call for by the Paris Climate Accord.
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