Joe Biden just put me out of business by suspending new oil and gas leases and drilling permits. I am a petroleum geologist and generate drilling prospects in the Rocky Mountains on federal lands. I worked six years to get a prospect ready to drill and Biden just illegally broke the terms of the lease, killing the deal.

This action was done under the guise of helping climate change but will not stop one CO2 molecule from being released, as there is nothing in the executive order to reduce consumption.

No one is going to drive less, fly less or stop heating their homes or businesses. The oil demand will remain the same and we will need to purchase oil from overseas. This decision is not based on science, logic or even common sense. Why do you want to put Americans out of work when you are not solving the problem?

Oil and gas is a major business in Colorado and the rest of the Rocky Mountains which are 50% federal lands. The industry provides major tax income from production and payback royalties from federal lands to our schools. This action will result in the loss of millions of oil industry jobs and tax base for all the Rocky Mountain States.

With 50% of the potential lands off limits to explore, it will very quickly kill the industry and accomplish nothing. Biden’s slogan should be “Make America Poor Again.”

— Tim T. Schowalter, Granby