THREAD 1/n About that oil and gas leasing pause… Here are a couple of outtakes from yesterday’s Land Desk’s paid-subs-only dispatch explaining why it’s not as big as it’s made out to be. First, the relevant text from the order: http://landdesk.org 

2/n So, notice ^^ that it is not a permanent halt to leasing. Rather it is "pending completion" of a review of the leasing system. So it might only last six months, which would only affect a few lease sales, maybe doing no more than delay them. And yet, you have folks saying...

3/n Pause will not affect pace of drilling for mos or if not yrs. Therefore it won't affect production (or ghg emissions). Therefore it won't affect royalty or tax revenues from production, which account for at least 97 percent of fed/state revenues from oil and gas.

4/n Here are some graphs showing how/why the oil industry has a stockpile of leased acres, and a backlog of approved drilling permits. Also: Trump's "energy dominance" paled in comparison to Obama's, for worse more than better

5/n Which is not to say that Biden's pause is meaningless. It's not. It will give everyone--including the few acres left unleased--some breathing room, and will give administration time to review and reform the broken leasing system, raise royalties and minimum bids, etc.

6/6 And it's symbolically significant because it shows that Biden is not afraid to stand up to big oil and gas. It reminds me a bit of Cecil Andrus back in 1977. Now go check out http://landdesk.org , wouldya?