Governor Issues Statement on BLM Halting Oil and Gas Lease

Following an announcement from the Bureau of Land Management to not hold its second quarter oil and gas lease sale, Governor Gordon issued a statement in response:

"The announcement by the Bureau of Land Management “to not hold” the second quarter oil and gas lease sale due to an ongoing review ordered by President Biden is disappointing, disheartening and not surprising. Federal reviews of anything typically take months, and sometimes years.

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What is most disappointing is that the Department of Interior could have chosen to review the federal oil and gas leasing program while conducting quarterly sales. Instead they chose to tighten the financial choke of revenue that would normally flow to the state from lease sales, all the while refraining from consulting with the very states and communities that are directly impacted by these decisions.

Over the past eight years, Wyoming has received, on average, $35 million annually from oil and gas lease sales on federal lands. This year, we have received zero, because the first and second quarter lease sales have been indefinitely postponed.

The reason behind the pause goes back to an executive order Biden issued on January 27 titled "Tackling the Climate Crises at Home and Abroad," which mandates the Secretary of the Interior pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands. This pause stays in effect until the completion of a review of Federal oil and gas permit practices, including the impact it may have on the climate.