Comment Re:at the judge understands (Score 1) 112
New oil and mining permits were pretty much halted.
This is an often-repeated rumor but the numbers say otherwise. The claim's origin is that Biden made a policy of not granting any new oil drilling licenses on federal land. But that didn't really change anything since there are plenty of wells, and it is difficult to open new wells on undeveloped federal land since it involves building roads, seeking permits, etc. Offshore drilling is generally easier, and we have a glut of offshore drilling wells that are still full.
The number of new licenses issued didn't change significantly between Obama / Trump / Biden. In some periods Biden's numbers were bigger, in some Trump's were bigger. The US isn't desperately looking for new oil and mineral sources. There are so many outstanding oil drilling licenses that have been granted and left unused, and we can already produce more oil than we can refine. Oil prices are really determined by refinery capacity, not new drilling licenses.