Author Topic: Biden Blocks Oil Drilling on Millions of Acres in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve  (Read 1587 times)

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Online Elderberry

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Legal Insurrection by Mary Chastain  April 27, 2022

The cut includes an “area recognized as having high potential for oil discovery and development and therefore would be likely to be impacted if available to fluid mineral leasing and new construction.”

Non-ethanol gas in Oklahoma City is $4.13. It was $4.25. Man, it went down a lot! #sarcasm

I shouldn’t complain because I know others have it worse. But still. Anything over $3 a gallon is a bit much for Oklahoma.

It might get worse because President Joe Biden ended a policy that makes millions of acres in Alaska unavailable for oil drilling.

In 2020, President Donald Trump’s administration left 18.5 million acres open in Alaska’s Natural Petroleum Reserve out of the total 22.8 million acre site for oil drilling.

The Bureau of Land Management decided to only leave 11.8 million acres (52%) of the land open. No one can touch the remaining 11 million acres (48%).

So over half of the site remains open but considering gas prices are through the roof and Russia is holding its energy sources hostage it’s time to drill baby drill!

BLM said the closure must happen “to protect and conserve important surface resources and uses in these areas.”

BLM even closed off an “area recognized as having high potential for oil discovery and development and therefore would be likely to be impacted if available to fluid mineral leasing and new construction.”

Yeah, let’s cut off a prime area. BLM claimed the area is important to numerous animals. All in the name of climate change, too:

    By reducing the total amount of land in the NPR-A that is available to fluid mineral leasing and new infrastructure, the plan adopted by this Decision will likely result in less leasing over time. Depending upon the degree of development that may have occurred with increased leasing, this could result in reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to the plan under the 2020 IAP/ROD. While the adoption of this plan itself does not directly generate GHG emissions, such emissions are a reasonably foreseeable consequence of making available lands within the NPR-A to oil and gas leasing and development. As such, adoption of this plan supports the administration and department’s commitment to addressing climate change by reducing the amount of land within the NPR-A that is available to fluid mineral leasing.

The Alaskan senators are not pleased:

    U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the decision will not help Americans.

More: https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/04/biden-blocks-oil-drilling-on-millions-of-acres-in-alaskas-national-petroleum-reserve-for-oil/

Offline libertybele

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 9999hair out0000 Can't AK sue Biden?  State rights??
Romans 12:16-21

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Online roamer_1

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9999hair out0000 Can't AK sue Biden?  State rights??

NOPE Bureau of Land Management owns most of the West.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2022, 03:40:51 am by roamer_1 »

Offline Kamaji

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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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NOPE Bureau of Land Management owns most of the West.
Actually, only 5 states have over 50% of its lands owned by the feds.

The big exception is Texas, which has less than 2% in federal lands.
Texas scored bigly when it entered the Union by insisting it kept all its state lands out of federal control.

https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_land_ownership_by_state
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Online roamer_1

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Actually, only 5 states have over 50% of its lands owned by the feds.


MT is not one of them... Except the 30 or so % that the fed does own, is mostly in the MT Rockies.

It's alright. It's a love/hate thing. If it weren't for federal lands, I'd be in the same place as most Americans... Trying to find land to camp and hunt on... but I go pretty well where I want to on fed and state land, and can easily respect private lands.

However. Them same sonsabiches are responsible for gateing me out of most of it. I can walk in, but access is largely diminished to walking in. No motorized vehicles. And they have also made getting firewood so laborious that I DO look for firewood and saw lengths on private lands.


In the end they are sonsabiches, and they do not have the right to own that land.

Online DefiantMassRINO

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The need to rebrand it as the "Nothing Reserve" ... in case America is in danger of experiencing a nothing shortage.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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MT is not one of them... Except the 30 or so % that the fed does own, is mostly in the MT Rockies.

It's alright. It's a love/hate thing. If it weren't for federal lands, I'd be in the same place as most Americans... Trying to find land to camp and hunt on... but I go pretty well where I want to on fed and state land, and can easily respect private lands.

However. Them same sonsabiches are responsible for gateing me out of most of it. I can walk in, but access is largely diminished to walking in. No motorized vehicles. And they have also made getting firewood so laborious that I DO look for firewood and saw lengths on private lands.


In the end they are sonsabiches, and they do not have the right to own that land.
The state should have a strategic plan to purchase those federal lands.  One more step to shrinking the feds
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Online roamer_1

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The state should have a strategic plan to purchase those federal lands.  One more step to shrinking the feds

The states should not need to purchase anything. When they became states they did not purchase the land. The land just became the state. That authority was withheld on certain parts of that land is the problem - Especially because they remain within the state's jurisdiction.

Owned by a federal government that has no constitutional right, and is explicitly forbidden from owning that land by that same document. The land was illegally retained, and it should be summarily turned over.

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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The states should not need to purchase anything. When they became states they did not purchase the land. The land just became the state. That authority was withheld on certain parts of that land is the problem - Especially because they remain within the state's jurisdiction.

Owned by a federal government that has no constitutional right, and is explicitly forbidden from owning that land by that same document. The land was illegally retained, and it should be summarily turned over.
There was no state so there were no state lands prior to the federal government incorporating a territory and forming a state.

Texas is unique as it was formed as its own country prior to joining the Union and so it actually owned those public lands within its boundaries.  It ensured its sovereignty over those lands by not agreeing to enter the Union unless Congress expressly refrained from appropriation of public lands.

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/annexation/march1845.html
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Offline Kamaji

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The states should not need to purchase anything. When they became states they did not purchase the land. The land just became the state. That authority was withheld on certain parts of that land is the problem - Especially because they remain within the state's jurisdiction.

Owned by a federal government that has no constitutional right, and is explicitly forbidden from owning that land by that same document. The land was illegally retained, and it should be summarily turned over.

Except for the 13 original colonies and Texas, all the other states were part of federal territories before they were hived off and admitted as states.  So the lane belonged entirely to the federal government beforehand, and how much remained afterward was a matter of what the federal government was willing to give up.

Online roamer_1

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There was no state so there were no state lands prior to the federal government incorporating a territory and forming a state.

Texas is unique as it was formed as its own country prior to joining the Union and so it actually owned those public lands within its boundaries.  It ensured its sovereignty over those lands by not agreeing to enter the Union unless Congress expressly refrained from appropriation of public lands.

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/annexation/march1845.html

That's really a head fake - Not by you, but by the powers that be...
The original colonies were not colonies of the United States.

They, being primaries in the formation of the federal government, were in fact sovereign nations each in their own right, and as primaries, resolved to form a union - The union cannot be greater than the primaries that formed it (signators naturally have a right to quit the contract for cause).

And if the later states are subject to the federal government, then they are not equal to the original signators and are truly vassal states, which cannot be true. Ergo, the formed states after-the-fact of the establishment necessarily have the same sovereignty as the original states with all that would entail.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2022, 06:39:20 pm by roamer_1 »

Online roamer_1

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Except for the 13 original colonies and Texas, all the other states were part of federal territories before they were hived off and admitted as states.  So the lane belonged entirely to the federal government beforehand, and how much remained afterward was a matter of what the federal government was willing to give up.

See my above reply the LMAO  pointing-up

Offline Kamaji

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That's really a head fake - Not by you, but by the powers that be...
The original colonies were not colonies of the United States.

They, being primaries in the formation of the federal government, were in fact sovereign nations each in their own right, and as primaries, resolved to form a union - The union cannot be greater than the primaries that formed it (signators naturally have a right to quit the contract for cause).

And if the later states are subject to the federal government, then they are not equal to the original signators and are truly vassal states, which cannot be true. Ergo, the formed states after-the-fact of the establishment necessarily have the same sovereignty as the original states with all that would entail.

Nonsense.  The states that were formed out of federal territories became co-equal sovereigns with the other states because the federal government ceded sovereignty over that territory except to the extent that federal law remained supreme pursuant to the Constitution.

Online roamer_1

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Nonsense.  The states that were formed out of federal territories became co-equal sovereigns with the other states because the federal government ceded sovereignty over that territory except to the extent that federal law remained supreme pursuant to the Constitution.

That's what I said. Technically the territory was ceded to a formed sovereign nation that joined the union as a state.. And must retain all the sovereignty of the original states (and the same ability to quit the contract).

And the Federal government has no right to lands ceded in the transaction and is forbidden from owning it as such. If they meant to retain the land, then it should not have been ceded.


Offline libertybele

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The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado, and with oversight over 247.3 million acres, it governs one eighth of the country's landmass.

BLM Alaska manages the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), which generated more than $56M in oil and gas lease revenue in 2019. The NPR-A includes approximately 23 million of the bureau's 25 million acres of federal mineral estate nationwide and is an important resource for meeting America's energy needs.

--------------

The Biden administration on Monday overturned a controversial Trump-era policy that would have opened new swathes of Arctic Alaska to oil development.

The Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of Interior, resurrected Obama-era management policies in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre (9.3 million hectare) area on the western side of Alaska's North Slope. Alaska's oil production has been declining for decades and reached a 45-year low last year.


https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-ditches-trump-era-policies-arctic-alaska-oil-reserve-2022-04-26/
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Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Online Right_in_Virginia

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The states should not need to purchase anything. When they became states they did not purchase the land. The land just became the state. That authority was withheld on certain parts of that land is the problem - Especially because they remain within the state's jurisdiction.

Owned by a federal government that has no constitutional right, and is explicitly forbidden from owning that land by that same document. The land was illegally retained, and it should be summarily turned over.

 :thumbsup:

Offline Kamaji

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That's what I said. Technically the territory was ceded to a formed sovereign nation that joined the union as a state.. And must retain all the sovereignty of the original states (and the same ability to quit the contract).

And the Federal government has no right to lands ceded in the transaction and is forbidden from owning it as such. If they meant to retain the land, then it should not have been ceded.



That doesn't follow.  The federal govenrment reverting to a landowner doesn't gainsay the sovereignty of the state created from federal territory.

Online roamer_1

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That doesn't follow.  The federal govenrment reverting to a landowner doesn't gainsay the sovereignty of the state created from federal territory.

Right. Except the federal government is forbidden from holding lands (except in the case of military bases and the like). And as a landholder illegal or not, the Federal government would be subject to the state and property taxes would apply, which is also not the case.

Offline Kamaji

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Right. Except the federal government is forbidden from holding lands (except in the case of military bases and the like). And as a landholder illegal or not, the Federal government would be subject to the state and property taxes would apply, which is also not the case.

No, it isn't.

Online roamer_1

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No, it isn't.

Yes it is... My understanding of it is that the Federal government may own and operate territories all it wants. It can also own and operate  enclaves with the permission of the state(s) (Washington DC being the primary example thereof).

All else would be 'other' or unenumerated lands within the states, which the federal government is not supposed to hold unless for specific enumerated use in the interest of carrying out it's duties (military bases, post offices, federal offices, etc). One might include national parks in that (though none existed at the time). but it does not include holdings outside of those specific purposes.

Offline Kamaji

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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Right. Except the federal government is forbidden from holding lands (except in the case of military bases and the like). And as a landholder illegal or not, the Federal government would be subject to the state and property taxes would apply, which is also not the case.
Reference?
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Online roamer_1

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Reference?

This is close to what I think... albeit that I would be leaning toward its mentioned conservatives. But this is a fair rendering close to my view:

Federal Land Retention and the Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Intent
Colorado Law Review: Volume 76 Number 2 2005 -Robert G. Natelson

Sorry if it is a bit dry.

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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This is close to what I think... albeit that I would be leaning toward its mentioned conservatives. But this is a fair rendering close to my view:

Federal Land Retention and the Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Intent
Colorado Law Review: Volume 76 Number 2 2005 -Robert G. Natelson

Sorry if it is a bit dry.
Interesting perspective.  While I agree the federal government should contain limits, I doubt this will gain traction.

The best bet is for a state to have a long-term plan in place to purchase back land within the state that the federal government claims is theirs.
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington