Investments suggest Biden-Harris officials may not fully support the climate agenda he spearheads
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Michael Whitaker, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, is spearheading the Biden-Harris administration’s push to wean the airline industry off oil dependence. He also owns an oil well in Wyoming that he leases to Hilcorp Energy, the largest private oil company in the United States, according to a financial disclosure statement released this month.
According to Whitaker’s financial report filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and released this month, the FAA administrator’s oil well is located in Uinta County, Wyoming, and is worth up to $100,000. Whitaker reported annual income of up to $5,000 in royalties from Hilcorp for the well, the report shows.
Although the drilling itself represents a relatively small investment for Whitaker — his total assets are several million dollars — and is one of thousands that Hilcorp operates in Wyoming, according to state data, it suggests that the top official in the Biden-Harris administration may not fully support the climate agenda he is pushing at the FAA. Since taking office in 2021, the government, including the FAA, has pursued policies aimed at transitioning the nation from fossil fuels to green energy.
“We are taking a major step forward to ensure the production of more fuel-efficient aircraft, reduce carbon emissions and achieve our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050,” Whitaker said in February after finalizing rules that will force large commercial aircraft in American airspace to meet a set of stricter fuel efficiency standards.
When Whitaker announced these rules, his agency complained that the classification of the affected civil aircraft was responsible for nine percent of domestic traffic emissions and two percent of national emissions.
And those regulations are part of the FAA’s Aviation Climate Action Plan, which sets a goal for the U.S. aviation sector to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Although the plan was formally developed before Whitaker was confirmed to office in October 2023, he approved it himself.
The Aviation Climate Action Plan calls for the development of more efficient aircraft engines, the electrification of certain flights, the production of sustainable aviation fuels and funding for climate research, among other things. After announcing a round of research funding in March, Whitaker said it would help ensure safe and efficient flight operations in the country “as we work towards net zero emissions by 2050”.
Although some companies are developing electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft, the technology has not yet been used for a single commercial flight. Moreover, according to the International Energy Agency, the aviation industry is not on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people angry, because the people who are constantly pulling the lever to make their gas more expensive, their car more expensive, their plane ticket to see relatives more expensive, and who are limiting their grocery shopping options because they are inconsistent with certain environmental goals are the people who are traveling around the world in private jets, owning oil wells and living unrestrained lives,” OH Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers, said in an interview.
“It’s all part of the same symptom, and that’s why people get so upset about the little indignities that are done to them – from the gas stove to the supermarket to their car to the gas pump. They see it as almost deliberate infliction of pain by people who are oblivious to all this,” Skinner added.
Meanwhile, Hilcorp, the company that leases Whitaker’s oil well, has been criticized by environmental groups over its emissions profile. In June, the Clean Air Task Force and Ceres – two eco-nonprofits that have worked with the Biden-Harris administration on key climate policies – released a study conducted by the firm ERM that found Hilcorp had the most methane emissions and the third-highest greenhouse gas emissions of any company in the United States.
Hilcorp is regularly listed as one of the largest emitters in its annual environmental report. The company said in 2022 that it was on track to further reduce its emissions, CNBC reported.
“The nearly 32-fold difference in methane emissions between the top and bottom quartile of natural gas producers illustrates the divide between companies that adopt best practices and those that do not,” said Lesley Feldman, research and analysis manager for the Clean Air Task Force.
The Clean Air Task Force regularly publishes briefings and commentary supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s environmental agenda, and its technology and markets director, John Thompson, serves on a White House task force on environmental quality. And Ceres regularly advises the White House and Democrats in Congress on climate policies — the group’s CEO, Mindy Lubber, has visited the White House seven times for meetings under Biden and Harris, visitor logs show.
In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, The FAA said Whitaker “complies with all federal ethics regulations and disclosure requirements” but did not comment on his ownership of the Wyoming oil well.
Hilcorp did not respond to a request for comment from Free Beacon.
