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 .004% 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.
DENVER – Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma will testify at a legislative hearing before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands regarding four bills, including two on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Resource Management Plans (RMP) that would close 6.7 million acres to leasing across four western states. She will testify in support of bills introduced by Rep. Harriet Hageman (H.R. 6085) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (H.R. 6547) to stop two RMPs in Wyoming and Colorado as well as bills on the Antiquities Act (H.R. 5499) and Natural Asset Companies (H.R. 7006).
“Just one week into his presidency, President Biden issued a moratorium on new leases on federal lands and waters. Lacking the power to do so, this Biden leasing ban was fairly easily overturned in court. BLM is now using the public land use planning process to preclude leasing on vast swathes of land across the West, in effect serving as the Biden leasing ban by other means,” said Sgamma. “In five RMPs that are currently being updated across the West, BLM is proposing to close over 6.7 million acres to oil and natural gas leasing. The extent of the proposed land closures and restrictions is at an unprecedented level, with the ultimate effect being a ban on leasing on large parts of the federal mineral estate.” |
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