The American Petroleum Institute (API) will fight Biden if he tries to ban drilling, fracking and any other oil and gas activity on federal lands, Mike Sommers, API’S chief executive told Reuters this Monday.
According to the news media API would use “every tool at its disposal, including legal action” to prevent the ban.
“This would be a far-reaching proposal that would undermine American natural and energy security to the detriment of the American people,” Sommers told Reuters.
As API said on a statement, it’s looking forward to work alongside members of both parties, as both candidates, Biden and Trump, made energy a key element of their campaigns.
Nevertheless, about the ban on fracking, API would “draw the line” as restrictions are being made over lands that have “always meant for multi-use”.
Sommers stated that several jobs would be lost, and states that heavily rely on oil and gas income would see their domestic gross product undermined.
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API looking forward to work with both parties
“We would be very concerned about those kinds of proposals coming out of the Biden administration,” Sommers added. Reuters states that Biden transition team did not comment over any of these claims.
Instead, Sommers said that API is looking forward to be involved in discussions regarding future federal regulations and methane emissions.
He insisted that Biden’s approach on oil and gas activity on federal lands is flawed; that Biden should be advised over this issue by the people that now it best. “He should sit on the table the people that know this issue best, to discuss the right way to do this,” he insisted.
About Biden’s plan to re-enter the Paris Climate Accord, Sommers said the American Petroleum Institute will support the fundamentals of the agreement, and it will work along side his administration to go back into the agreement.
“America’s natural gas and oil companies haven’t waited for governments to act on climate—we have driven progress through technology, innovation, and constant reinvention, and we’ll support bipartisan policies that build on that progress. We stand ready to work with members of both parties to forge those bipartisan solutions,” he claimed earlier this month, shortly after elections.
