12.02.23

Hoeven Statement on Biden Administration’s Burdensome Rules for Oil and Natural Gas Producers

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today issued the following statement after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan finalized the agency’s methane emissions rule imposing burdensome and duplicative regulations on energy producers.

“Instead of unleashing more domestic energy production, the Biden administration continues to put the handcuffs on our producers through burdensome and duplicative regulations,” said Hoeven. “This EPA rule will drive up energy costs for consumers and increase U.S. reliance on energy imports, including from adversarial foreign nations with little to no regard for environmental or labor standards. The Biden administration needs to reverse course and start empowering energy and natural gas producers here at home, for the good of our economy and our national security.”

Earlier this year, Hoeven and the North Dakota delegation pushed back on the rule’s one-size-fits-all approach and outlined how it would force energy producers to shut down operations due to unworkable mandates, harming the nation’s energy security, reducing revenues to states, tribes and local governments and eliminating good-paying jobs. The EPA’s proposed rule is duplicative of the gas capture goals set by the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) without providing the same regulatory flexibility. Under the NDIC goal, North Dakota’s gas production grew to record levels and operators currently are achieving a gas capture rate of 95%.

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