05.23.22

Hoeven Presses Interior Secretary to Stop Blocking Energy Development on Federal Lands

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, pressed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to stop blocking energy development on federal lands. Hoeven outlined how the Biden administration’s harmful energy policies are leading to record high energy costs and rising inflation.

“We are pressing the Interior Secretary to allow us to produce more energy on federal lands, both onshore and offshore,” said Hoeven. “Energy costs are high, with Americans paying record highs at the pump. Energy is part of this inflation problem we’re seeing across all products. We need to be able to produce more energy here at home, and we will continue to press this issue with the administration.”

Hoeven pushed back on the Biden administration’s restrictions on federal lands, including how the Department of the Interior is only allowing 20 percent of available acreage for oil and gas leasing, and at the same time raising production fees on the lands by 50 percent. In North Dakota, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it plans to hold lease sales for 6,850 acres of land between Montana and North Dakota, with only 600 of those acres falling in North Dakota.

Additionally, Hoeven is working to pass legislation like his American Energy Independence from Russia Act, which would take immediate action to increase U.S. energy production and reduce reliance on Russian energy. This includes: 

  • Authorizing the construction and operation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
  • Removing regulatory hurdles to increase liquefied natural gas exports.
  • Prohibiting any presidential moratoria on new energy leases.
  • Requiring the U.S. Department of the Interior to hold a minimum of 4 oil and natural gas lease sales in each state with land available for leasing in fiscal year 2022.
  • Prohibiting the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy from drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until the Secretary of the Interior issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.  

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