by President Biden and top White House officials repeatedly said last year that oil and gas exploration companies had 9,000 unused drilling permits, a figure the administration admitted was inaccurate on Monday.
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees nearly 250 million acres of federal land, changed its estimate of the current number of approved but unused applications for drilling permits from about 9,000 to less than 6,700, the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital. The agency said the number was updated to “account for a reporting discrepancy resulting from the transition to a new database in mid-2020.”
“The record profits made by oil companies in 2022 and the thousands of approved but unused drilling licenses they are sitting on show that there is nothing standing in the way of increasing oil production other than Big Oil’s own decision to funnel their profits into the pockets of shareholders and executives,” a Biden administration official added on Monday, downplaying the briefing.
But the White House had cited the 9,000 permit number on at least 20 separate occasions last year, according to a review of public statements and observations. Amid intense criticism of the administration’s climate agenda as consumer prices hit record highs, the president and top officials pointed to the number as proof that the oil and gas industry did not need additional leases and was free to produce immediate action.
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“They have 9,000 drilling permits,” President Biden remarked in June. “They don’t drill. Why don’t they drill?” (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“For nearly a year, the White House has been trying to shift the blame for blocking oil and gas development on federal lands,” Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, told Fox News Digital. “They are using the claim of 9,000 permits to bash the industry and deflect their failure to process permits effectively. Now it turns out the numbers were off by thousands.”
“The reality is that this administration has done everything possible to make it more difficult to produce oil and gas on federal lands,” he continued. “Studies show that the United States would be producing 2-3 million more barrels per day, reducing the process for consumers, if these bad policies did not exist.”
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In addition to Biden, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre, former press secretary Jen Psaki, Rep. John Kirby and unnamed administration officials all reported the number.
“One thing I want to say about the oil companies: They talk about how we have — they have 9,000 drilling permits,” Biden remarked in June. “They don’t drill. Why don’t they drill?”
Gasoline prices, largely determined by oil markets, topped $5 a gallon for the first time in US history days after Biden’s remarks. Utility gas and electricity prices have also increased since the president took office in January 2021.
Oil production on federal lands fell to 12.28 million barrels per day in November, the latest month for data, according to the Energy Information Administration. Production peaked at 13 million barrels per day under the Trump administration. (iStock)
The president also called on Congress to fine companies that have obtained unused permits on federal land “that they are accumulating without producing.”
“There are over 9,000 onshore drilling permits sitting unused,” Granholm said during a speech in March 2022. “We all know it’s the same old DC BS.”
“There are approximately 9,000 approved drilling permits across the country that are not currently being used, 10.4 million acres of offshore federal waters have already been leased,” Haaland added in testimony during a Senate hearing in July. “I know there is a lot going on around the price of fuel, but I want to reassure you that at the Home Office, we are doing our job and following the law.”
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And the White House issued several briefing notes citing the number to argue that the government had provided plenty of opportunities for industry to drill for oil and gas.
“Currently, the oil and gas industry sits on more than 12 million acres of unproductive federal land with 9,000 unused but approved drilling permits,” the White House said in an April statement.
“The President has issued 9,000 permits to drill on U.S. federal lands … 9,000 of them are unused. There are many opportunities for oil and gas companies to drill here in the United States,” Kirby said in November. “Again, there are 9,000 unused permits here in the United States on federal land that oil and gas companies can and should exploit. Nine thousand.”
