Senator John Barrasso

U.S. Senator Barrasso Demands Answers on Biden’s Oil and Gas Leasing Ban

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) sent a letter to Acting Secretary of the Interior, Scott de la Vega, demanding answers on the Biden administration’s recent orders banning new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.

In the letter, Barrasso expressed his strong opposition to the orders imposing a moratorium on oil and gas leasing and permitting on federal lands.

Barrasso posed nearly two dozen questions to the Department of the Interior on its apparently inconsistent leasing and permitting activities.

Among them, he asked whether the Biden administration is favoring New Mexico and Nevada over Wyoming.

Section 3(g) of Secretarial Order No. 3395 states that it: “does not limit existing operations under valid leases. It also does not apply to authorizations necessary to: (1) avoid conditions that might impose a threat to human health, welfare, or safety; or (2) to avoid adverse impacts to public land or mineral resources.”

On Wednesday, January 27, 2021, Gina McCarthy, President Biden’s National Climate Advisor, publicly stated that the President’s Executive Order No. 14008 “is not stopping permitting. It’s not stopping fracking.”

That same day, Jennifer Granholm, whom President Biden has nominated to be Secretary of Energy, provided sworn testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that, under the administration’s orders: “the licenses that currently are operating are not going to be disrupted.”

“They will continue to operate…they can continue to permit and deploy and extract energy from.” Ms. Granholm added “the moratorium on leases is prospective. It does not apply to those who are currently operating.”

“Since then, I have spoken to a number of oil and gas producers who are unable to obtain the necessary permits from BLM to produce on existing leases on federal land in Wyoming. At least one oil and gas producer has reported to me that BLM is permitting activities in New Mexico that it is not permitting in Wyoming. In addition, I have come to learn that BLM will proceed with an oil and gas lease sale in Nevada on March 9, 2021, but does not appear to have plans to proceed with a lease sale in Wyoming scheduled for March 15, 2021,” said Barrasso in his letter.



Login To Facebook To Comment
Share This: