DENVER -- Yesterday, Western Energy Alliance, the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, North Dakota Petroleum Council, Petroleum Association of Wyoming, and Utah Petroleum Association filed a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. The leasing rule’s impact will deter development of federal oil and gas, disproportionately affect small companies, effectively close eligible and available lands to new leasing, and violate BLM’s duty to promote oil and gas development as a multiple use of federal lands. Because the rule is procedurally deficient, arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law, the associations ask the court to invalidate and vacate it. The associations are represented by Alexander K. Obrecht, Mark S. Barron, and L. Poe Leggette of Baker & Hostetler LLP.
“BLM issued a final rule that prices small producers out of the market and off public lands,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance. “The bonding amounts are excessive when there are just 37 orphan wells out of more than 90,000 wells on federal lands. Increasing bonding amounts 20-fold in order to take care of a problem on just .04% of wells is way out of proportion. Companies are already responsible for reclaiming wells, and one of the primary reasons there are so few orphan wells on federal lands is because our members clean up old wells even when they weren’t the party that abandoned them in the first place. This is another rule by the Biden Administration meant to deliver on the president's promise of no federal oil and natural gas. We’re pleased to be joined by our sister trade associations in challenging a rule that has such a detrimental economic impact in states across the West.” DENVER – Western Energy Alliance today responded to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final fluid mineral leasing rule that will increase bonding amounts far beyond what the market will bear. The following statement is attributable to Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma: “The BLM rule will drive small producers off public lands. The bonding amounts are excessive when there are just 37 orphan wells out of more than 90,000 wells on federal lands. Increasing bonding amounts 20-fold in order to take care of a problem on just .04% of wells is way out of proportion. This is another rule by the Biden Administration meant to deliver on the president's promise of no federal oil and natural gas. Western Energy Alliance has no other choice but to litigate this rule.” # # #
DENVER – Western Energy Alliance today responded to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) releasing the final waste prevention rule, which follows previous rules under the Obama and Trump administrations to reduce methane emissions, venting, and flaring. The following statement is attributed to Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma:
“The oil and natural gas industry and the BLM share the goal of reducing waste of natural gas through venting, flaring, and leaks. Western Energy Alliance appreciates that with the waste prevention rule, BLM is attempting to achieve clarity on how to classify waste gas as avoidably and unavoidably lost, and hence whether it bears royalties or not. The Alliance is reviewing the final rule to ensure it has corrected the problems with the 2016 Obama Administration rule that was overturned in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming in State of Wyoming et al. v. the Department of the Interior, of which Western Energy Alliance was a co-plaintiff. DENVER – Western Energy Alliance won a significant victory in court last Friday as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the first oil and natural gas lease sales of the Biden Administration, held in June 2022. Judge Christopher Copper, an Obama appointee, ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis that served as the basis of the sale of 162 leases in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. The Alliance’s intervention in the case to support BLM was pivotal, as the judge relied heavily on the trade association’s arguments on the type of climate change analysis necessary for lease sales to go forward. The Alliance is represented by Bret Sumner and Malinda Morain of Beatty & Wozniak PC.
DENVER – A coalition of oil and natural gas trade associations today lauded the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for organizing Energy Week and focusing on passing a slate of bills to enhance domestic oil and natural gas production. The groups combined represent companies that produce an estimated 80 percent of oil and natural gas in the U.S. The associations include Western Energy Alliance, Energy Workforce and Technology Council, Independent Petroleum Association of America, International Association of Drilling Contractors, National Ocean Industries Association, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, and U.S. Oil and Gas Association.
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