This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The Biden administration knew that the nation would gain additional energy “security” with a million-acre oil and gas lease sale in Alaska, but instead opted for a plan to charge energy companies more money, a plan that discouraged bidding on those leases.

The details come in an leaked memo obtained by Fox News.

The report said the accidentally leaked memo had the Biden administration acknowledging that charging fossil fuel companies less to drill in the Cook Islet off the coast of Alaska could give the nation “greater energy security.”

But, the report said, “Former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton recommended late last year that, as part of its climate agenda, the Department of the Interior (DOI) move forward with higher royalty fees for an oil and gas lease sale spanning 958,202 acres.”

The report said DOI Assistant Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis ultimately signed off on the recommendation.

“If a Cook Inlet prospect would be developed, there would be additional government revenues and greater energy security for the state of Alaska, especially if development of natural gas resources in the Cook Inlet ameliorated the long-term supply challenges facing the Anchorage area,” Lefton explained. “Nevertheless, because of the serious challenges facing the nation from climate change and the impact of [greenhouse gasses] from fossil fuels, BOEM is not recommending this option since it would not include an appropriate surcharge to account for those impacts.”

Lefton’s plan was to charge drillers a royalty of 18.75%, instead of a 16.67% rate that “she said would attract more bids and ‘be more likely to facilitate expeditious and orderly development…'”

The report explained Daniel-Davis later claimed the higher rate was chosen because it was “the most reasonable balancing of environmental and economic factors for the American public.”

The sale eventually was held Dec. 30, and attracted a single bid, of $63,983 for one 2,304-acre parcel.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., noted the memo was posted by the Department of the Interior and he was “appalled by its contents, which make crystal clear that this administration is literally putting their radical climate agenda ahead of the needs of the people of Alaska and the United States.”

He continued, “If this is what this administration truly believes and is how they are going to make decisions, it is unacceptable.”