• On 15 November, US President Joe Biden announced that his administration would stop approving new licences for the extraction of oil and natural gas in the area of Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico
• Two days later, the administration auctioned off licences for the Gulf of Mexico area with a total value of 192 million dollars
• According to the Guardian, the average number of licences issued each month by the Biden administration (339) is higher than that of the Trump administration (316)

The strategy and intentions of US President Joe Biden on environmental matters are becoming increasingly difficult to decipher. On 15 November, the White House announced that it would block the approval of new licences for drilling in the area surrounding Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico, one of the most important sites for the history and culture of Native communities.

The biggest auction of the year

Just days later, however, on 17 November, the same administration held a major auction in which licences for the extraction of oil and natural gas were sold for a total value of 192 million dollars. Many critics argue that these developments create further confusion and cast doubt on Biden's true intentions regarding fossil fuels.

On 17 November, the US Department of the Interior, led by Native American Deb Haaland, concluded the biggest auction of the year for the granting of drilling rights on US territory, raising 192 million dollars.

1.2 billion more barrels of oil

The area in question extends over more than 300 square kilometres around the Gulf of Mexico. According to the department, the permits — which will remain valid for 44 years — will enable the production of approximately 1.2 billion barrels of oil and up to 124 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The last auction in this area had been organised by the Trump administration, and had brought 121 million dollars into US coffers.

In the past, Biden had attempted, without success, to limit the sale of new licences. On 27 January, just one week after taking office at the White House, the president had announced a temporary suspension on the granting of new extraction licences in federal waters and on federal lands.

In June, however, also following protests brought by a group of 13 US states, a judge in Louisiana had overturned the situation, ruling that the block on sales was not based on any "rational explanation" and could therefore not be considered valid. The Biden administration subsequently filed an appeal, but in the meantime was forced to reactivate the approval of concessions for oil and natural gas extraction.

Under Biden, 339 fossil fuel permits granted per month

For this reason too, Joe Biden's results to date have not satisfied environmentalists — quite the contrary. According to an analysis by British newspaper The Guardian, between 2017 and 2021 the Trump administration issued an average of 316 new permits per month, whereas the new White House led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has so far issued an average of 339 per month.

Meanwhile, on 15 November Biden announced that his administration would move to halt for at least twenty years the sale of new licences relating to the extraction of natural gas and oil within the 16 kilometres surrounding the area of Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico.

The step forward: the case of Chaco Canyon

The site, part of a national park and designated a Unesco heritage site, is of fundamental importance to the indigenous communities that have lived there for centuries and who now feel threatened by the increasingly invasive measures being implemented in their territories.

US Interior Press Team @USInteriorPress

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Today, @POTUS announced that @Interior is taking steps to protect Chaco Canyon and the greater connected landscape. Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for Indigenous peoples.
doi.gov/pressreleases/…

♥ 149💬 3 15 nov 2021 · Apri su X →

"Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that carries enormous significance for indigenous communities, whose ancestors lived, worked and achieved great things in these desert lands," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "We must now consider more lasting protective measures for Chaco, so that we can pass on its cultural richness to future generations."

As reported by the New York Times, the decision was criticised by fossil fuel companies and by some political representatives, who argued that the 16-kilometre radius imposed has no scientific basis and that halting drilling operations would have severe consequences for the local economy and the job market.

The commitments made by the United States at COP26

According to Bruce Westerman, for example, the Republican congressman for Arkansas and member of the Natural Resources Committee, the decision is part of the "war" launched by the Biden administration "against American energy".

Both the new auction in the Gulf of Mexico and the commitment to halt drilling at Chaco Canyon come just days after the close of COP26, the twenty-sixth United Nations world climate conference organised by the United Nations in Glasgow between 31 October and 12 November. On that occasion, the United States signed the Global Methan Pledge, a pact among more than 100 countries to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, and Biden pledged to spend 9 billion dollars to combat deforestation.

On other issues, however, Washington proved considerably less forthcoming. And many pointed to the United States in particular (though not only) as having given a substantial green light to India's last-minute request to drop any mention of a phase-out of coal from the final document of COP26 — settling instead for a mere reduction in its use.