An oil field on federally managed land in California in 2015. (Jae C. Hong/AP) The Trump administration is starting to reduce royalty payments and suspend leases for oil companies drilling on federal lands, citing the coronavirus pandemic, while at the same time imposing retroactive rent on wind and solar generators. The reported number of oil and gas wells affected by the relief and suspension policies is small, but critics of the policy say they believe far more applications are pending or will be submitted. The moves are in line with the stated preferences of President Trump, who has said he does not want “to lose our great oil companies” to the pandemic, while he has disparaged wind turbines and placed tariffs on solar panels . The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees federally controlled land, argues the actions are in accordance with the law: While the agency has the […]