Daines, Zinke, Rosendale Demand Answers to Biden Administration’s Flagrant Disregard of Oil, Gas Land Leasing Laws

• June 8, 2023

Send Letter to Interior Secretary Haaland and BLM Director Stone-Manning requesting oversight

U.S. SENATE - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today led a letter with Congressmen Ryan Zinke and Matt Rosendale to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Tracy Stone-Manning demanding answers as to why the BLM is not offering any parcels in Montana for the lease sale in June, despite the congressionally mandated quarterly requirement. This is yet another example of the Biden administration's attempt to slow walk, then exterminate, federal oil and gas lease sales in the U.S.

"We write to express our concern with the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) current record of mandated lease sales on federal lands in Montana. The Biden administration's first nineteen months in office saw the fewest acres leased for oil and gas since World War II. It is concerning that since taking office the BLM has only held one lease sale in Montana. Despite congressionally mandated lease sales and a federal court reversal of the Biden administration's leasing moratorium, the BLM is not offering any parcels in Montana for the upcoming competitive lease sale in June while Americans continue to face rising energy costs and persistent inflation," they wrote.

"The United States continues to face an ongoing energy crisis worsened by supply constraints, regulatory uncertainty for oil and gas producers, rising costs, and deliberate policy choices pursued by this administration. It is imperative that BLM prioritize domestic energy production by holding competitive lease sales on federal land, including in Montana, in order to strengthen American energy security,"the letter continues.

See the full letter Daines, Zinke, Rosendale sent Haaland and Stone-Manning HERE.