US says oil, gas sales damage climate — but won’t stop them

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Interior Department is preparing to offer oil and gas lease sales on large tracts of public land despite concluding that burning fossil fuels from those parcels could carry huge costs and contribute to climate change. Burning oil, natural gas and coal from federally-owned lands accounts for about 20% of energy-related U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But officials with the Biden administration’s Bureau of Land Management say in newly-released planning documents that they can’t accurately determine the climate impacts from upcoming oil and gas lease sales in western states. Officials proposed delaying sales of some tracts in Wyoming and Montana over concerns drilling could harm wildlife.