Despite the Biden administration's claims that domestic energy production must be shut down, largely in Republican states, due to the “climate crisis,” federal documents reveal one state has seen an explosion of oil drilling permits — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's home state of New Mexico.
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is now questioning how the Biden administration can site potential greenhouse gas emissions to oppose oil drilling in his state while issuing permits to increase oil production exponentially in New Mexico, the point where it now produces more oil than Alaska.
Since Biden took office in 2021, New Mexico has received 52 percent of all drilling permits from Haaland's Interior Department. Haaland has been speculated as a future candidate for U.S. Senate in New Mexico.
But while drilling has increased exponentially in New Mexico, Haaland has blocked drilling in other states, even contacting banks to order them not to finance drilling in states like Alaska.
Sullivan called out Haaland by name on the Senate floor in a speech noting Haaland's interference and opposition to an energy development project in his state while drilling explodes in her state.
As Sullivan stated above:
Here is something else that is frustrating, in my view, even scandalous–even scandalous. Our media won't ever report on this, but I am going to try again.
The Secretary of the Interior is from New Mexico. OK. That is interesting. Guess which State–my State can't get barely a lease. We beg. We make speeches. We fly dozens of people into DC to get leases on the Federal lands in my State to move forward. Guess which State has gotten, in the first 2 years of the Biden administration, more than half of all Federal permits to drill on Federal lands? Do you think it is Alaska? No. Is it Texas? My friend from Texas is here. It is not Texas. It is not North Dakota. It is not any of those places. Guess which it is. Oh, my goodness. It is New Mexico–New Mexico. Isn't that an interesting story for somebody? The Secretary of the Interior is from New Mexico. The senior Senator from New Mexico is from New Mexico, obviously, and they are getting all of the leases. They are getting all of the leases.
Here is the thing. New Mexico is on a tear in terms of producing oil. Now, look, I have nothing against that. The country needs it. The country needs it. But look at these numbers. These are millions of barrels. Red is New Mexico. Gray is Alaska. We are kind of steady. We need more oil. New Mexico is in red. Look at that. Holy cow. It is through the roof–through the roof. And guess what is coming with all of that production. Greenhouse gas emissions through the roof in New Mexico. Where is the reporting on that topic?
You know, sometimes the media likes to talk about “climate bombs” in the country. I don't really like the phrase. I think it is silly. But if there is a climate bomb from the production of oil in America, it is right there. It is right there.
Again, I think it is fine that this State is doing well. It is good for the country, and it is good for the workers in New Mexico. But what I don't like is the rank hypocrisy. The media is always focusing on Alaska, on our production. Yet look at this: There were 9,366 applications for permits to drill, which were approved during the first 2 years of the Biden administration, in New Mexico. Yes, that is right–over 9,000–while my State can barely get 1. And 52 percent of all permits to drill in the country are in New Mexico.
The Secretary is from New Mexico. Where is that story? Where is that story? The Secretary of the Interior has been shutting down Alaska energy production while approving massive drilling activity in her own State, and the media won't touch that story with a 10,000-foot pole.
New Mexico has increased production by 700,000 barrels a day since 2019. They are at 1.7 million barrels a day. My State is at about 500,000, and we are trying to increase. Where is that story?
You know, the senior Senator from New Mexico is always trying to shut down any oil development in Alaska. I have talked about it on the floor. I am not going to go into it a lot here, but he has gone to extreme measures, like writing banks and insurance companies and saying: Don't invest in Alaska. But it is “drill, baby, drill” in New Mexico. No one writes that story, and I think it is hypocritical, too, because the greenhouse gas emissions in that State are going through the roof.
So there is a lot of hypocrisy going on. In my State, my constituents–the Native people, the working people–just want the most environmentally sensitive project in the world, which is the Willow Project, to keep our economy going and to help our country. That is all we want.
I think, given what the Secretary of the Interior is doing for her own State–like I said, “drill, baby, drill,” with a climate bomb in New Mexico–it is time to finalize the Willow Project according to the scientists and the final EIS that was granted by the Biden administration 2 weeks ago and not use political muscle and political power to kill a project in my State when this blue State is drilling like crazy and producing like crazy.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Thank you Senator Sullivan for shining a spotlight on this egregious practice and another in a long line of democrat cheating for their own benefit while punishing the opposition. Perhaps they’re just getting ready for the great “reset” when the Red States secede into their own country and refuse to do any business with the blue states. Of course eventually the blue states will have to attack the Red States because of their lack of ability to run a country.
Ped Joe has waged war against the American Economy
Wheres are Nuclear plants?? Can we revive