Hoeven approves of N.D. lawsuit against Biden’s oil and gas leasing moratorium

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) last week commended North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem for filing a lawsuit on July 8 against the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas leases for federal lands and waters.

“The Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas leases creates uncertainty for our energy producers and unnecessarily burdens our nation, increasing our reliance on foreign energy imports from countries with lower environmental standards,” Sen. Hoeven said in a July 8 statement. “These leases are an important source of revenue for all levels of government, support a stronger economy and good jobs, and help ensure our nation remains energy independent.”

North Dakota is suing the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), because BLM unlawfully canceled the regularly scheduled auctions of oil and gas leases of public mineral rights in the state that BLM is required by federal law to hold, according to the attorney general’s office.

“I have taken this action to protect North Dakota’s economy, the jobs of our hard-working citizens, and North Dakota’s rights to control its own natural resources,” said Stenehjem, who added that BLM’s cancellation of the March and June auctions will cost the state over $80 million in lost revenues.

“We appreciate Attorney General Stenehjem’s efforts to ensure this moratorium is permanently overturned, and will continue working to ensure that energy leases on federal land continue,” said Sen. Hoeven, who has repeatedly pushed back on the administration’s oil and gas leasing moratorium.

The state’s lawsuit was filed shortly after a federal court in Louisiana preliminarily enjoined a BLM lease cancellation policy on June 15.

In response to that court decision, Sen. Hoeven and seven of his fellow U.S. Senate colleagues urged U.S. Interior Secretary Debra Haaland to move forward all postponed and future sales for onshore oil and gas leases impacted by the leasing ban.

“In light of the U.S. Western District Court of Louisiana’s recent ruling on President Biden’s federal oil and gas leasing ban, we ask that you immediately hold all postponed federal onshore oil and gas lease sales affected by Executive Order 14008,” wrote Sen. Hoeven and the lawmakers in a July 2 letter sent to Secretary Haaland. “We also ask that you work with President Biden to fully rescind the leasing ban.”