Energy Groups Are Suing Biden Administration for Not Holding Oil and Gas Lease Sales

Vice President Kamala Harris (2-L) and special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry (L) watch as President Joe Biden signs several executive orders related to climate change, including one directing a pause on new oil and natural gas leases on public land, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 27, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Two energy groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Interior (DOI) for its failure to hold natural gas and oil lease sales in the third quarter of this year.

The lawsuit was filed by the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) on Monday at the State of Wyoming and the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. The Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) of 1920 mandates that the DOI secretary must hold at least quarterly lease sales in every state where there is interest, Kathleen Sgamma, president of the WEA, stated in a Dec. 5 news release by PAW.

“Oil and natural gas companies have nominated millions of acres in Wyoming and across the West that have yet to be offered for sale,” she said, according to the release.

“Not only has this administration held only one set of lease sales in its first two years but has now signaled that there will be no sales until second quarter 2023, a full year later. Once a year does not equal ‘quarterly.’”

In addition, the DOI has released seven new policies prior to Thanksgiving that makes it more difficult “to lease and produce on public lands,” Sgamma noted.

The Interior Department announcement came only a few days before the Biden administration eased Washington’s oil sanctions on Venezuela, allowing Chevron to expand in the socialist country.

Sgamma pointed out that instead of “buttressing up dictators,” Biden should tell government agencies to back away from increasing red tape that suppresses American energy production.

The only oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming under the Biden administration happened in June this year. The next round of lease sales is scheduled by the DOI for the first half of 2023.

Wyoming Lawsuit, Promoting Adversary Energy Production

The lawsuit filed by WEA and PAW follows another lawsuit recently filed by the State of Wyoming which alleges that the Biden administration’s suspension of oil lease sales is illegal.

Republican Gov. Mark Gordon stated that the litigation is “timely and vital” to the interests of the citizens of his state.

The decision of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which comes under the DOI, to cancel lease sales seems to be a “violation of both the letter and the spirit of the law,” he said while calling the sales pause as “politically driven” rather than based on facts or law.

In a statement to Fox, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, blamed the Biden administration for ceding America’s global energy leadership to corrupt regimes.

She cited Washington’s easing the sanctions on Venezuela, which is a dictatorship that is allied with Iran, and the decision to waive sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which ended up strengthening Russia and “invited the attack on Ukraine,” as examples of Biden’s poor management of American energy policies.

“Rather than going hat in hand to our adversaries, President Biden needs to abandon his war on American energy and join Republican efforts to unleash the abundant energy resources we have right here at home,” she said.