Western Energy Alliance Responds To Interior Revoking Drilling Permits Following The Administration’s Assurances Otherwise

​DENVER – Contrary to statements by the White House that President Biden’s Executive Order banning leasing on public lands would not impact existing leases, Bloomberg Government reports 70 previously approved permits were revoked. The following is reaction from Western Energy Alliance, which filed suit earlier this week challenging Biden’s executive as order exceeding presidential authority.
 
“President Biden’s own Interior Department has contradicted the statements from just Wednesday’s White House climate press conference promising that his leasing ban would not affect existing leases,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance. “By revoking 70 drilling permits that have been in the works for months, the Interior Department is demonstrating how President Biden’s ill-advised leasing ban has immediate impacts on existing leases and the western workers and state budgets that depend on that development.

“Besides the undeniable impact on existing leases of these 70 revoked permits, a leasing ban affects existing leases in other not-so-obvious ways. The leasing ban will affect existing projects awaiting adjacent leases. Often initial geophysical analysis and exploratory wells determine that a well is best placed on as-yet-unleased adjacent acreage because of geological or topographical conditions. Sometimes a tribal, state, or private horizontal well cannot avoid federal minerals that lie along its underground lateral. A federal lease is necessary in both these common situations to move forward with projects on existing leases. By isolating adjacent lands, a blanket federal leasing ban affects development of tribal, state, federal and private energy resources. These spillover effects are why the Wyoming Energy Authority found that 32,700 jobs will be lost in the very first year of a Biden leasing ban, growing to 58,676 annually by the end of his term.”
 
Earlier today, Bloomberg Government reported, “The Biden administration is yanking scores of drilling permits that were issued by agency workers without the approval of political appointees despite a temporary order for such reviews. The Interior Department on Friday notified affected oil and gas producers that roughly 70 permits were improperly issued and the companies need to seek new approvals.”
 
The following are excerpts of talking points and remarks from the Administration earlier this week stating existing oil and natural gas drilling permits would not be impacted by the president’s executive order.

• Administrator Gina McCarthy in the White House Press Briefing Room:  “…this wasn’t about impacting existing permits and fracking; this was about new leases on federal lands.”

 

• Interior press release issued Jan. 27, 2021: “The targeted pause does not impact existing operations or permits for valid, existing leases, which are continuing to be reviewed and approved.”

 

• Interior talking points memo (attached): “It does NOT affect oil and gas drilling and fracking on valid existing leases, either onshore or offshore.”  

 
According to a recent economic study from the Wyoming Energy Authority, the cost of Biden’s ban will be staggering. In his first term, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) across eight western states would decline $33.5 billion, 58,676 jobs would be cut annually, wages would drop $15 billion, and state tax revenue would plummet $8.3 billion. Wyoming and New Mexico would be hit the hardest.

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Western Energy Alliance represents 300 companies engaged in all aspects of environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the West. Alliance members are independents, the majority of which are small businesses with an average of fourteen employees. Learn more at www.WesternEnergyAlliance.org