Reeling from the effects of the pandemic, the oil industry is in no mood to fool around. When newly inaugurated President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project, refiners on the Gulf Coast shuddered. How would they get the Canadian oil they needed? But when President Biden paused all oil and gas permitting on federal lands and waters and canceled lease sales, struggling oil and gas companies took the gloves off and prepared for a fight. At stake is the industry’s very survival. One recently announced fight involves Continental Resources, an Oklahoma-based exploration and production company that relies on permits to allow it to conduct its normal business. But in January, on the day President Biden was inaugurated, the Department of the Interior clamped down–on President Biden’s direction–on approving permits for oil and gas exploration on federal lands and in federal waters. It did this not by banning […]