Biden Outpaced Trump on Drilling Permits in First Year

Despite President Joe Biden's promise to phase out federal leasing for fossil fuel extraction, his administration approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first year than the Trump administration did in 2017.

That's according to the Center for Biological Diversity's new analysis of federal data released Friday, which shows that the Biden White House rubber-stamped 3,557 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in 2021—a 34% increase over former President Donald Trump's administration, which greenlit 2,658 drilling permits in its first year.

Of the drilling authorized...