BILLINGS, Mont. -- The U.S. Interior Department is canceling oil and gas lease sales from public lands through June amid an ongoing review of how the program contributes to climate change, officials said Wednesday.
The action does not affect existing leases, and the agency has continued to issue new drilling permits during the open-ended review ordered by the White House, said Nada Culver, deputy director of Interior's Bureau of Land Management.
The petroleum industry and its Republican allies in Congress have said the oil and gas moratorium will harm the economies of Western states without putting a significant dent in climate change. There is no end date for the review, but an interim report due this summer could reveal the Biden administration's long-term plans for lease sales.
Sales had been tentatively scheduled in seven states and regions -- Nevada, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the bureau's eastern region, spokesperson Jeffrey Krauss said.
Officials had previously postponed or suspended lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and many of the same states covered in Wednesday's move.
Biden on Jan. 27 ordered Interior officials to review if the leasing program unfairly benefits companies at the expense of taxpayers and its effects on climate change. Federal courts have blocked prior leases in several western states following lawsuits from conservation groups that said climate impacts and other environmental problems from drilling were ignored.