The moratorium, which would also freeze coal leasing, is set to be unveiled along with a raft of other climate policies next week, according to the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss plans not yet public.
The moratorium is separate from a 60-day leasing and permitting pause ordered Wednesday, two people said.
The move would block the sale of new mining and drilling rights across some 700 million acres of federal land.
It could also block offshore oil and gas leasing, though details are still being developed, some of the people said.
... The review could result in an end to leasing or to new limits on selling tracts and higher price tags to buy them.
... Biden has called for phasing out fossil fuels over time in favor of cleaner power sources -- an overhaul of the U.S. energy mix that would have profound implications for the economy, touching everything from pipelines to power lines.
... Biden promised to end new oil and gas permitting on federal land during his presidential campaign.
... Federal lands and waters together accounted for 22% of total U.S. oil production and 12% of U.S. natural gas production in 2019, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Onshore federal lands provide about 8% of the nation’s oil and 9% of its natural gas, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Data for 2020 are not yet available.
... Biden already moved to block oil leasing and related activity in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- where Congress in 2017 ordered the government to auction drilling rights twice by the end of 2024.
... Oil industry advocates argue that drilling blockades do nothing to stifle emissions -- just shift that crude production elsewhere.
“The world is still going to need natural gas and oil under any scenario for a long time,” said Dan Naatz, senior vice president with the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
“A leasing ban is just going to ship that production to Saudi Arabia, to Russia, where there are far less stringent environmental controls.”