The Department of the Interior announced Friday that it would resume onshore oil and gas lease sales on federal land, with a higher royalty rate.

The BLM will publish sale notices for upcoming oil and gas projects on Monday.

However, a judge recently halted the lease sale because the administration cannot use a metric to quantify the economic harm caused by climate change, such as rising sea levels, more destructive hurricanes, extreme wildfire seasons, and flooding. The Biden administration appealed the ruling, claiming it required a halt to all government projects that used that particular analysis.

The royalty rate increase follows a controversial report from the Interior Department last November recommending higher rates to maximise taxpayer returns. The new royalty rate is 18.75 percent, up from 12.5%. It’s the first time the federal government has raised fees for oil and gas drilling on public land.

“For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programmes have prioritised extractive industries’ needs over local communities, the natural environment, air and water quality, tribal needs, and other uses of our shared public lands,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

The bureau will offer approximately 173 parcels on approximately 144,000 acres of federal land, an 80 percent reduction from the acreage originally considered for leasing, according to Interior. The Interior Department stated that it reduced the amount of land offered following a “rigorous environmental review” and consultation with Native tribes and local communities.

The department also said it would focus on offering new leases near existing oil and gas infrastructure and will continue to disclose greenhouse gas emissions that would result from oil and gas drilling on federal lands.

Environmental groups blasted the move, saying the Biden administration is disregarding its promises on the climate crisis.