Republican and Democrat Lawmakers Decry Biden Admin Move to Cancel Oil Leases

Alaska’s Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola stand together before a contingent of Alaskans who traveled more than 4,000 miles to Washington to call on President Joe Biden to approve the proposed $8 billion, 556-acre Willow Project on the western reaches of the North Slope, on March 1, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined Republican lawmakers in criticizing the Biden administration’s cancelation of seven oil and gas leases in Alaska, decrying the move as making the United States more energy dependent.

On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior said it would withdraw more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) from oil and gas leasing.