President Joe Biden's administration is attempting to limit oil drilling to thwart President-elect Donald Trump's agenda, Newsmax reported. The Interior Department is considering putting a 20-year moratorium on mining and drilling leases for the Ruby Mountains in Nevada.
Trump will take office with a mandate this month in part because of his commitment to energy independence through domestic energy production. His "Drill, baby, drill" agenda is second only to his "Build the wall" promise among supporters.
Unfortunately, the current administration is attempting to hamstring energy production by protecting the area known as "Nevada's Swiss Alps." The plan would prohibit about 264,000 acres from being leased for petroleum drilling and other mining.
The Biden administration notes that the land was historically used by the Te-Moak Tribe, who are part of the Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. The move to protect the land is being championed by those deferential to native tribes as well as to environmentalists.
According to Fox News, the conflict over this land began during Trump's first administration. The Forest Service had surveyed the area and determined that 54,000 acres in the Ruby Mountains could be suitable for drilling.
However, the plan was ultimately rejected in 2019 after "thousands of comments from the local area, the state of Nevada, and from across the nation" were against the plan, forest supervisor William Dunkelberger. He would go on to sign the final decision to prohibit drilling.
Opposition to the drilling also came from Jenna Padilla, the geologist for the Ruby Mountains ranger district of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in 2018. Padilla determined that the geological studies done "show there is low to no potential for oil."
Now Biden's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has joined those voices in celebrating canceling the plans to drill. "The Ruby Mountains are an iconic landscape with exceptional recreation opportunities and valuable fish and wildlife habitat worth preserving for the future," Vilsack said in a statement.
"Today’s action honors the voices of Tribal communities and conservation and sportsmen’s groups and marks another important step to protect a treasured landscape," he added. It's unclear whether Trump would revisit the project in his new administration anyway.
Regardless of Trump's plans for this area, the move by the Biden administration is just the latest effort to sabatoge the incoming president's agenda. The New York Post reported that Biden has chipped away at another Trump priority by quietly selling off materials purchased for the border wall.
Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested a hearing over the practice in December. Reports found that materials, including slats for a border fence, were being auctioned off for as low as $5 each.
Last week, a federal judge blocked the effort. "We have successfully blocked the Biden Administration from disposing of any further border wall materials before President Trump takes office," Paxton said in a statement.
“This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda," he noted. Trump said selling it off was an "almost criminal act."
Biden was a terrible president who ruined the country, and now he can't afford to have Trump show him up by succeeding. It's petty and ridiculous for his administration to do this to Trump's agenda before he even takes office.
