{"id":27522,"date":"2024-05-22T10:38:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T16:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/groups-sue-over-bureau-of-land-management-leasing-rule\/"},"modified":"2024-05-22T16:38:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T16:38:42","slug":"groups-sue-over-bureau-of-land-management-leasing-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/groups-sue-over-bureau-of-land-management-leasing-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups sue over Bureau of Land Management leasing rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An
An abandoned pumpjack is seen in a field in Kirtland.
\nHannah Grover\/NM Political Report, file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Several groups have sued over a new Bureau of Land Management leasing rule they argue will harm indigenous communities and put small businesses out of business.<\/p>\n

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 sued Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and the BLM in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit challenges a newly proposed BLM Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule, which it says is its \u201cfirst comprehensive update to the Federal onshore oil and gas leasing framework since 1988.\u201d<\/p>\n

BLM claims the rule \u201cmodernizes the BLM\u2019s oil and gas leasing program, ensuring a balanced approach to public lands management, and secures a fair return for American taxpayers, updating outdated fiscal terms and codifying new provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rule increases royalty rates, minimum rental rates, minimum lease bids, establishes a new fee on expressions of interest, eliminates non-competitive leasing of federal lands for oil and gas, and revises the onshore program\u2019s cost recovery mechanisms.<\/p>\n

It also increases the minimum lease bond amount and other bond amounts, which it says has not been done since 1960. BLM argues the existing bonds \u201cdo not provide an adequate incentive for companies to meet their reclamation obligations, or cover the actual costs of cleanup in the event an operator goes out of business or otherwise fails to complete required plugging and reclamation \u2013 costs that taxpayers end up covering.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rule prioritizes which federal land will be leased to \u201cfocus agency resources\u201d and \u201cbetter manage public lands.\u201d It also limits the use of lease suspensions and drilling permit extensions and expands oversight of lease transfers.<\/p>\n

Those suing argue the rule is designed to further deter development of federal oil and gas, effectively closes eligible and available lands to new leasing, is \u201cdeficient, arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law.\u201d They asked the court to invalidate and vacate the rule, prohibiting it from going into effect.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, which represents independent oil and natural gas companies in several western states, said the rule \u201cprices small producers out of the market and off public lands,\u201d which could effectively put them out of business. It also delivers on a promise made by President Joe Biden to eliminate oil and natural gas development on federal lands that she argues will have \u201ca detrimental economic impact in states across the West.\u201d<\/p>\n

She addressed one aspect of the rule increasing bond amounts, explaining that the increases are \u201cexcessive when there are just 37 orphan wells out of more than 90,000 wells on federal lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasing bonding amounts 20-fold in order to take care of a problem on just .04% of wells is way out of proportion,\u201d she said. \u201cCompanies 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\u2019t the party that abandoned them in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive director of the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico Jim Winchester said that BLM was created to provide oversight \u201cto promote fair and equal public land use,\u201d which the rule violates. New Mexico Oil and Gas Association president Missi Currier agrees, adding that the rule \u201cis an overreach that could impact U.S. energy security, the economy, and the full potential of the lands\u2019 multi-use possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winchester also raised concerns about Haaland failing \u201cto consider the negative economic ramifications of this overreaching rule to those already in poverty in her home state\u201d of New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Members of New Mexico\u2019s Navajo Nation for years have opposed Haaland\u2019s efforts in Chaco Canyon, arguing they will make already poor residents destitute. They are not alone. Alaska\u2019s indigenous communities argue similar efforts she implemented in the North Slope will destroy their livelihoods, The Center Square reported. Both New Mexicans and Alaskans have argued the Biden administration has implemented federal rule changes without consulting their tribal leaders and the actions being taken will further cause harm to residents who already don\u2019t have electricity or running water.<\/p>\n

Pete Obermueller, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said the rule will devastate small businesses. Roughly 80% of Wyoming operators are small businesses; combined, they produce one-third of Wyoming\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cRules like this one will fall hard on the smallest of Wyoming\u2019s operators, making it economically impossible for many of them to continue to produce,\u201d he said. He hopes the court will rule to protect \u201cWyoming\u2019s small operators from the heavy hand of an administration intent on forcing them to close their doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rikki Hrenko-Browning, president of the Utah Petroleum Association, said the rule is punitive, unnecessary and overreaching\u201d and will have \u201coutsized negative consequences\u201d on Utah, which has \u201cabundant federal land.\u201d She also argues Utah doesn\u2019t need the federal government expanding more regulations when Utah \u201cserves as a shining example of how natural resource development can and does coexist harmoniously with other uses like recreation and conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center Square<\/a> was launched in May 2019 to fulfill the need for high-quality statehouse and statewide news across the United States. The Center Square is a project of the 501(c)(3) Franklin News Foundation, headquartered in Chicago.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plaintiffs argue the rule, which would raise royalties, could put small oil and gas producers out of business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[221,28,138,195],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-gas-and-oil","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-u-s-bureau-of-land-management"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27522"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}