Hoeven to Interior Secretary: Stop Locking Up Energy Development on Federal Lands

05.06.24

Hoeven to Interior Secretary: Stop Locking Up Energy Development on Federal Lands

Senator Presses Interior Department on Proposed ND Resource Management Plan, BLM Public Lands Rul

WASHINGTON - Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, pressed U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Interior Department officials to stop locking up federal lands and blocking energy development and other uses. Specifically, Hoeven pushed back on the Interior Department's draft North Dakota Resource Management Plan (RMP) and the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) recently finalized Public Lands Rule.

"We are pushing back on the Interior Department's plans to lock away federal lands to energy development and other multiple uses," said Hoeven. "Whether under the proposed Resource Management Plan for North Dakota or the recently finalized Public Lands Rule, the Interior Department is putting significant restrictions on our lands and preventing taxpayers from benefiting from our natural resources. We need to be able to develop energy on federal lands, especially in states like North Dakota with split-estate ownership where the federal government may own lands but mineral rights are owned by the state or private individuals. We need to be able to develop our natural resources to help bring down costs for U.S consumers and enhance our energy security."

North Dakota Resource Management Plan

Hoeven pressed Secretary Haaland on the BLM's latest draft Resource Management Plan, or RMP, for North Dakota, which proposes significant new restrictions on energy development in the state. The draft RMP would close off leasing to 45 percent of potential federal oil and gas acreage and 95 percent of federal coal acreage. This is particularly problematic due to the split-estate ownership issue in North Dakota, where federal minerals are often co-located with state or privately-owned minerals, under non-federal surface acreage.

Additionally, the RMP proposes reducing "the potential for expansion of federal coal mining at all active North Dakota mines: BNI Center, Coyote Creek, Falkirk, and Freedom." Hoeven pressed the Secretary to abandon limitations on new coal leasing and cited North Dakota's world-leading carbon capture projects connected to these mines, including Project Tundra, Coal Creek, and at the Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains Synfuels Plant.

BLM's Public Lands Rule

The senator also pressed Secretary Haaland to drop the recently finalized BLM Public Lands rule that seeks to establish restoration or mitigation leases, potentially locking away federal lands in conflict with the longstanding tradition of multiple use requirements established by Congress. The senator outlined the importance of allowing taxpayer-owned lands for grazing, energy production, recreation and other uses, particularly in North Dakota and other western states that depend on access to federal lands. Hoeven is planning to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval with Senator John Barrasso to block the rule.

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