Summary: <p>Climate scientists and activists were cautiously optimistic when Joe Biden promised to ban new permits for oil and gas drilling on federal land during his 2020 campaign. But two years in, the Biden administration is under strong pressure to respond to rising gas prices due to the war in Ukraine. In mid-April, the Department of the Interior announced it would resume leasing federal lands to gas and oil companies for drilling—mere days after a <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/ipcc-report-2022-climate-impacts-adaptation-vulnerability#:~:text=The%202022%20IPCC%20report%20also,indictment%20of%20failed%20climate%20leadership.%22">United Nations report</a> warned that the climate crisis is more dire than ever, and governments haven't been doing enough to stop global temperatures from rising. Zoya Teirstein, a climate policy reporter for <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist</a>, explains why this move won't actually do much to lower gas prices for Americans in the short term, and why the Biden administration’s climate agenda is moving too slowly to prevent irreparable environmental harm.</p>
