The Biden administration has delayed issuing permits for new oil and gas drilling on federal land, a move that could complicate efforts to tame gasoline prices that are poised to top $4 per gallon amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Interior Department warned of delays in new drilling permits after a Louisiana-based federal district judge blocked the administration’s method for assessing how its permit approvals affect climate change. “To have your judicial system and regulatory branch trying to throttle oil and gas production while you’re scrambling to look under every rock around the world for a barrel of oil is awkward and contradictory,” said Bob McNally, a former White House official who heads Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. Some officials were confident the move would have a minimal short-term impact on domestic oil and gas production in part because drillers already have thousands of unused permits they can […]