On his first day in office on Wednesday, incoming U.S. President Joe Biden will sign executive orders to reverse decisions of the previous administration and will rejoin the Paris Agreement, revoke a Presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, and issue a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Biden’s Day One Executive Actions will include an executive order under which the United States will rejoin the Paris Agreement. The instrument Biden will sign will be deposited with the United Nations today. The United States will officially become a Party again 30 days after that, the Biden-Harris transition website says.
“The United States will be back in position to exercise global leadership in advancing the objectives of the Agreement,” the transition team notes.
The U.S. officially left the Paris Agreement in early November 2020. Although President Trump said in 2017 that he would withdraw the United States from what he called “the terrible, one-sided Paris Climate Accord,” the U.S. had to wait for three years after the agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016, to give the 12-month notice for officially exiting the pact.
The day-one executive actions also includes “Revoking, revising, or replacing additional Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations, Memoranda, and Permits signed over the past 4 years that do not serve the U.S. national interest, including revoking the Presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline,” the transition team says.
In another executive order concerning the oil industry, Biden will direct the Department of Interior to place a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which the Trump Administration had just opened to development. The first lease sale was a flop, with oil companies largely steering clear of the auction earlier this month.
Last week, API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in the State of American Energy Keynote that “energy affordability is more important than ever as we recover from the pandemic…And that’s the case we’re making and approach we’ll take in working with President Joe Biden and his administration.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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