President Joe Biden can't catch a break with the radicals in his party, but it's not for the lack of trying.
According to Fox News, just ahead of an announcement regarding a rather large Alaskan oil drilling project being greenlit by the administration, it also announced that some 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska will be blocked off from future drilling attempts.
Likely knowing how upset the radical eco-warriors of the party would be upon announcing the Willow oil drilling project, the administration took action to appease them to some degree.
But the reaction to the announcement was not what the White House was presumably hoping for, as both sides are still ticked off.
"The Willow project's approval is great news for Alaska, but the Biden administration banning new oil and gas development across 16 million acres in Alaska is a bad deal," Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) tweeted.
The Willow project's approval is great news for Alaska, but the Biden administration banning new oil and gas development across 16 million acres in Alaska is a bad deal. pic.twitter.com/vMo2FTGMVt
— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) March 13, 2023
Fox News noted:
The Department of Interior (DOI) said it had initiated a rulemaking process to "establish maximum protection" for 13 million acres of land across the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, set aside by Congress for resource development.
It added that in addition, the president ordered another 2.8 million acres "to be withdrawn from oil and gas leasing in the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska."
Biden's Department of Interior did a celebratory lap after the president's announcement, which will only further hinder American energy independence.
"With these actions, President Biden continues to deliver on the most aggressive climate agenda in American history," the DOI said in a statement.
It added: "He has made the United States a magnet for clean energy manufacturing and jobs. He secured record investments in climate resilience and environmental justice."
"And his economic agenda has put the United States back on track to reach its climate goals for 2030 and 2050, all while reducing America’s reliance on oil and protecting American families from the impact of Putin’s war on global energy markets," the statement continued.
A former senior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) official explained to Fox News Digital what's really going on with Biden's announcement.
"It's a totally political decision, it's not based on science, it's not based on climate change, it's not based on biological resources," the unnamed official said. "They're pandering solely for political purposes and not paying attention to the science."