NE Wyoming News

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman criticized the Biden/Harris administration and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for their energy policies, following a recent lease sale in Wyoming. The BLM offered only 159 acres, generating $27,000.

“Wyoming’s economy and the American people rely on access to federally controlled energy resources, yet the Biden/Harris Administration is doing all that it can to destroy our domestic energy industry,” Hageman stated. She highlighted that two forty-acre plots in Crook and Fremont counties received no bids during the sale. “The BLM’s intentional neglect to offer oil and gas leases threatens to drive small Wyoming producers out of business and encourages further reliance on foreign adversaries to produce the energy upon which Americans depend. This, coupled with Democrats' decision to raise bonding fees and royalty rates through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, underscores the Biden/Harris Administration’s outright hostility toward traditional American energy producers."

Hageman noted that at the start of this Congress, the House passed H.R. 1 to allow more access to energy resources by setting a minimum number of lease sales on federal land. This would enable Wyoming's producers to generate affordable and reliable energy for Americans. However, when the Senate did not take up this legislation, they attempted again through the Department of Interior appropriations bill.

“As your lone Congressional Representative, I will not stop fighting against the overburdensome attacks on Wyoming’s lifeblood," she added. "We have abundant natural resources, and we should be making them available to our nation as a means to return to energy independence.”

Background information shows that in 2023, under the Biden/Harris administration, less than 300,000 acres of public land were offered for leases compared to over 11 million acres during Trump’s first year in office. Expressions of Interest for Wyoming fell from over 2 million acres nominated in 2018 during Trump's administration to just 30,000 acres in 2023 according to BLM data.

Additionally, Democrats' climate law from 2022 increased the minimum royalty rate for federal oil and gas production by 33 percent while also raising statewide environmental bond requirements from $25,000 to $500,000. This has had a significant impact on small independent producers.

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