Industry groups are suing the Biden administration over the lack of a third-quarter oil and gas lease sale, the latest in a series of litigation against the Interior Department’s sparing leasing of federal acreage during President Joe Biden’s tenure.
The complaint, filed on Monday in federal court in Wyoming, accuses the Interior Department and its Bureau of Land Management of failing its obligations under the Mineral Leasing Act, a century-old law that created the onshore federal oil and gas leasing program, by not scheduling and holding a lease sale in the third quarter.
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1670337923116,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1670337923116,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_70337917", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1199333"} }); ","_id":"00000184-e7e6-d5ff-a7af-ffff02d90000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
REFINERY-STATE DEMOCRATS PLAN BILL TO REIN IN BIOFUEL BLENDING COMPLIANCE COSTS
Petitioners Western Energy Alliance and Petroleum Association of Wyoming referenced statutory language providing that lease sales “shall be held for each state where eligible lands are available at least quarterly and more frequently” and requested the U.S. District Court for Wyoming to declare the lack of a lease sale to be contrary to federal law.
“The failure to hold lease sales according to the Mineral Leasing Act’s mandate unnecessarily delays — and can completely halt — development of federal, state, tribal, and private minerals,” the complaint read.
The lawsuit follows up multiple other complaints filed by industry groups and Republican-led states challenging the Biden administration’s leasing practices. Some of the challenges leveled on behalf of the industry have succeeded, while others have not.
In the most consequential case, Louisiana challenged Biden’s order to pause all new oil and gas leasing pending a review, and a federal judge preliminary enjoined the order last summer before issuing a permanent injunction this year.
The BLM carried out oil and gas lease sales in multiple states back in June, the only series of sales to occur during Biden’s tenure, pointing to the court ruling.
Interior, as well as environmental groups opposed to new leasing, have argued in public and in court that the government has wide discretion over whether and when to lease federal acreage, as well as how much acreage to lease.
The Biden administration has taken actions to advance new leasing while also adding new strictures.
Interior has scheduled two of the three offshore oil and gas lease sales Congress ordered in the Democrats’ green energy and health spending bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act. The department is eyeing May 2023 to carry out onshore lease sales in several states.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The department has also begun implementing higher royalty and rental rates on leased acreage, which Congress also ordered in the new climate law, and directed state offices not to favor oil and gas leasing for the use of federal lands over other uses, such as recreation.
