Lummis Weighs-In on Biden Administration Rule That Would Drive Up Cost to Drill on Federal Lands

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) recently released a statement in response to the Biden administration announcement of a new rule that would drastically increase the cost of drilling oil and gas on public lands. Lummis, the Senate Western Caucus Chair said as Americans continue to feel the pain of record inflation, the Biden administration chose to further ignite the flames by increasing royalty rates on domestic oil and gas producers and that this shortsighted action will only raise the price at the pump for people in Wyoming while discouraging domestic energy production and increasing our energy dependence on foreign adversaries.

Lummis added that this rule would increase the cost to drill on public lands by  nearly 17 percent and it’s  time for Congress to take up and pass her POWER Act to prohibit the president – once and for all – from blocking energy production on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval.

The first bill Senator Lummis introduced when coming to the Senate was the Protecting Our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act to prohibit the president or his secretaries of Interior, Agriculture or Energy from blocking energy or mineral leasing and permitting on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval. She reintroduced the POWER Act at the beginning of this Congress alongside 16 of her colleagues.