Ban on Oil and Gas Drilling with Transition to Electric Official Vehicles... Biden Accelerates Climate Change Policy (Comprehensive)

Expected Benefits for US Electric Vehicle Companies as Part of 'Buy America' Policy
New Oil and Gas Drilling Ban Raises Hopes for Green New Deal Job Creation
Concerns Over Backlash from Existing Oil Companies... "19 Million Jobs Could Disappear"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondents Baek Jong-min and Lee Hyun-woo] The U.S. Biden administration plans to announce a policy that will fundamentally ban new oil and gas drilling on federally owned lands. The United States is also accelerating its climate change policies, including a complete transition of government fleet vehicles to electric cars.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 25th (local time), citing senior Biden administration officials, that "President Biden will issue an executive order on the 27th to ban new oil and gas drilling on federally owned lands," and "the president will establish a government-wide action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and create new committees and positions to promote environmentally friendly job creation." The NYT projected that this would increase demand for green alternative energy by about 30%, which could lead to the creation of one million jobs through the Biden administration’s Green New Deal policy.

However, concerns remain about bankruptcies and backlash from U.S. shale oil companies, which grew to become the world’s largest under the previous Trump administration. According to CNBC, in November last year, the American Petroleum Institute (API) stated that if the Biden administration restricts new oil and gas drilling on federal lands, it would respond with legal measures. The API warned that the drilling restrictions could result in the loss of up to 19 million jobs in the U.S. oil industry.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The series of ‘Buy American’ executive orders announced by the Biden administration on this day also included plans to replace government fleet vehicles with electric cars. President Biden emphasized, "The federal government will replace its vast fleet of vehicles with clean electric cars made by American workers in American factories," and added, "We will also explore providing subsidies or sales incentives for consumers who switch from gasoline vehicles to electric cars in the future."

President Biden explained that the plan to transition government fleet vehicles to electric cars is part of the Buy American policy strategy, stating, "We will use taxes to rebuild America." The Biden administration plans to purchase only electric vehicles with at least 50% of their internal components produced in the U.S. Currently, major global commercial electric vehicle companies such as Tesla, General Motors (GM), and Ford all manufacture electric cars in U.S. factories. If only vehicles with internal components produced in the U.S. are purchased, all approximately 650,000 U.S. government fleet vehicles will be ordered from American electric vehicle manufacturers.