North Dakota Sues Biden Administration Over Oil, Gas Leasing Ban

July 8, 2021

North Dakota sued the Biden administration Wednesday over its suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water, stating the overreaching order will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Associated Press reports:

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal district court in Bismarck claims the move is unlawful. It seeks to force the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reschedule two lease sales that already have been canceled and block the agency from revoking others in the future.

The lawsuit said the two canceled sales this year have cost the state more than $82 million.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in a statement he sued “to protect North Dakota’s economy, the jobs of our hardworking citizens, and North Dakota’s rights to control its own natural resources,” he went on to say the suspension could cost the state “billions in the coming months.”

North Dakota is not alone. As Power The Future previously reported in March, 13 states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s moratorium. “Louisiana and 12 other states joined the lawsuit, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. Wyoming is another state that filed a separate lawsuit.”

The American Petroleum Institute (API) previously projected a $700 billion hit to U.S. gross domestic product should the ban be extended through 2030. Such action would also erase $9 billion of revenue, some of which is used to fund education and conservation programs.

API also projects that one million job losses would occur by 2022, eliminating nearly one-tenth of the 10.3 million jobs that the natural gas and oil industry supports.

The Biden administration’s attempt to diminish a multi-billion dollar program and further cripple a vital sector of the U.S. economy, that supports millions of good-paying energy jobs and provides reliable, affordable energy to households across the nation is detached from the interests of the American people.