At the turn of the 20th century, land that was once prime for cattle grazing, forestry, mining, and farming became far less abundant. America was thus forced to confront how best to utilize its natural resources, resulting in two primary schools of thought. The first, championed by John Muir, was that America should engage in preservation by preventing all human development to keep lands in their natural state. The second, championed by Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, was to engage in conservation.

Conservation encourages the maintenance of working land – that is, land that is managed not only for its longevity and health, but also for its ability to be productive to humans. Now, the Biden administration is doing everything it can to destroy this delicate balance by systematically removing every acre of working land that they can. Historically, preservationists have been pleased with national parks, wilderness areas, and national monuments while conservationists have relied on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for their needs. If the current administration has its way, this balance will not last for long.

In my home state of Colorado, the BLM has proposed removing 1.6 million acres of federal land from oil and gas leasing and is designating tens of thousands more acres as “Areas of Environmental Critical Concern,” that will no longer be available for use. This rule would kill thousands of jobs, obliterate an entire industry, and spike energy prices for Americans across the country. Unfortunately, this draconian decision is not unprecedented for this administration. In May, the Department of Interior (DOI) released a proposed rule that would allow conservation groups to lease federal land managed by BLM, effectively preventing all industry from accessing it. This rule stands in stark contrast to BLM’s multiple-use policy. In August, the Biden administration announced it would lock up a staggering 1.1 million acres in Arizona to be a national monument, and In June, the administration withdrew 336,404 acres of federal mineral estate surrounding the Chaco Canyon National Historic Park.

This has all occurred on top of the administration’s refusal to issue almost any off or onshore leases.

The administration has done all of this for two reasons. The first is supposedly to protect the sage grouse, which is an endangered bird that lives on the western plains. The second, and more underhanded reason, is obliterate the fossil fuel industry in America. Every environmental and energy policy that the administration has put in place is to fulfill President Joseph Biden’s promise to end fossil fuels in America. This includes banning gas stoves, removing helium from the critical minerals list, stopping all oil and gas lease sales, and now removing working land from energy development. The Biden administration is actively doing everything it can to prevent fossil fuels from providing reliable, affordable energy to millions of Americans.

This is wrong for America as no other energy generation source can come close to competing with fossil fuels. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, wind and solar energy receive 14 times more government subsidies than fossil fuels every year ($7.5 billion in 2022) yet produce only roughly 11% of our nation’s electricity. Electricity itself only makes up about 38% of our nation’s total energy consumption. Despite this monumental government overreach, energy derived from fossil fuels has only fallen from 86% in 2000 to 84% today.

Wind and solar energy cannot be dispatched reliably, as renewable technologies can only produce energy when the sun is shining, or the wind is blowing. These technologies have a dismal up time of roughly 25% compared to fossil fuels which have a roughly 75% up time. The war against fossil fuels has done nothing to curb Americans’ demand for affordable, dispatchable, and reliable energy.

Oil and gas production has existed hand in hand with responsible environmental stewardship. Colorado’s elk herd is the largest in the nation and has increased from 40,000 elk in the early 1900’s to 300,000 today. Colorado’s mule deer population has grown by 40,000 since 2018, and Colorado’s population of antelope have grown from 5,000 in the 1940’s to 85,000 today. The Biden administration claims to protect the sage grouse through this drastic action, but this species has experienced a 24% increase in its Colorado population since 2019. Not only has gas production not impeded the restoration of these species, but they have flourished in a shared environment. Colorado is the fourth largest producer of oil and eighth largest natural gas producer in the country. This supply is crucial in keeping energy prices down for all Americans and must continue while we restore our natural areas.

If one were serious about mitigating impacts to wildlife, they would look closely at how we use our land acreage. The United States lost over 24 million acres of natural areas and 11 million acres of farmland since 2001 due to urban development, which has hurt endangered species far more than oil and gas production. According to the DOI, in 2018 U.S. oil and gas hit a record production high while utilizing the smallest amount of surface acreage disturbance in our nation’s history by utilizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In contrast, BLM recently announced a whopping 1,000-acre solar farm in the De Tilla Gulch region of Colorado, which takes up far more critical habitat than oil and natural gas while producing less electricity. This is an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars and is not appropriate stewardship of our nation’s wild areas.

The reality is clear: oil and gas production does not hinder wildlife restoration, but irresponsible land use does. By locking up 1.6 million acres from mineral production in Colorado, the Biden administration will reduce the supply of energy which will increase prices for Americans everywhere.

We have seen this happen under the Biden administration for the last three years, and the time has come to reimplement realistic and responsible policies.

The reality is clear: Oil and gas production does not hinder wildlife restoration, but irresponsible land use does.