Gordon Celebrates Resumption Of Federal Gas, Oil Lease Sales

This story first appeared on Cowboy State Daily.

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday celebrated the news that President Joe Biden’s administration would again allow the sale of oil and gas leases.

However, Gordon also questioned the impact of the Biden administration’s decision to reduce the number of acres available for lease while increasing royalty rates.

“I am concerned that these changes will have a chilling effect on Wyoming companies as they prepare their bids,” he said.

On Monday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will issue final environmental assessments and sale notices for upcoming oil and gas lease sales that reflect the new approach the federal government has taken in making federal properties available for lease.

Gordon said the news about the fact an oil and gas lease sale would be held for the first time in more than one year was welcome, but as tempered by the reductions in acreage and the new royalty rates.

“The announcement of an upcoming federal oil and gas lease sale is welcome news, but long overdue,” Gordon said Friday. “While we don’t know the exact number and location of the Wyoming parcels, after 15 months without a lease sale in our state, to learn that royalty rates will be increased and available acreage significantly reduced is hardly cause for unbridled celebration.”

The BLM said the lease sales will be conducted with tribal consultation and broad community input, will include analysis on greenhouse gas emissions and increase the royalty rate to 18.75%, up from the longtime rate of 12.5%.

Biden put a halt to oil and gas leasing almost immediately after taking office in 2021.

“How we manage our public lands and waters says everything about what we value as a nation. For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of Tribal Nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands,” U.S. Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said Friday. “Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations.”

A report released by the Biden administration last November about oil and gas leasing was called “embarrassing” by both Gordon and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

The BLM assessed potentially available and eligible acreage in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. It began analyzing 646 parcels on roughly 733,000 acres that had been previously nominated for leasing by energy companies.

As a result of the environmental review, engagement with tribes and communities and prioritizing the American people’s interests in public lands, the final sale notices will offer approximately 173 parcels on roughly 144,000 acres, an 80% reduction from the acreage originally nominated.

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