The Biden Administration has largely abandoned scientific or economic reasoning when it comes to its energy policy decisions, instead simply citing “indigenous knowledge” as an excuse to block further oil and gas leases.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the reasoning was cited when the Biden Administration’s Department of the Interior (DOI) blocked the sale of seven different oil and gas leases in the state of Alaska. When Interior Secretary Deb Haaland first announced on September 6th, 2023, that the Arctic Ocean off the coast of the United States, including Alaska, would no longer allow any new oil and gas leases, she claimed that the department’s reasoning included “the best available science,” which included “recognition of the indigenous knowledge of the original stewards of this area.”

In response, the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust filed a complaint of scientific integrity against the DOI, pointing out that “indigenous knowledge” prioritizes “subjective beliefs over and above evidence derived from the application of the scientific method.”

“The American public can rightly hold serious concerns that the Biden administration’s decision making, through the use of Indigenous Knowledge, is susceptible to manipulation without even the pretense of adhering to scientific principles,” said Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust.

“Indigenous knowledge” consists entirely of pseudoscience based on the ancient religious beliefs and traditional rituals carried out by the Native American population in past centuries, which is more akin to voodoo and witch doctor practices rather than actual science. It is also a racial supremacist belief, as it contends that natives have a unique knowledge of science that is superior to the learned science of the White population.

This application of so-called “indigenous knowledge” comes after both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) similarly announced that they would be employing “indigenous knowledge” in future research efforts regarding medicine, health, and other areas of study. The internal document from Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) claims that “a strong culture of scientific integrity begins with ensuring a professional environment that is safe, equitable, and inclusive,” before falsely stating that “issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are an integral component of the entire scientific process.”