Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, issued the following statement on North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley filing suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) cancellation of quarterly oil and gas lease sales without notice or public input.
“Attorney General Wrigley is right to sue the Biden Administration for its illegal suspension of Mineral Leasing Act-required quarterly lease sales. The President’s executive orders and political whims on climate change do not trump the Bureau of Land Management’s statutory duties, especially when their hindrance equates to a regulatory taking from the State of North Dakota,” said Senator Cramer. “The Administration’s actions push production overseas, which impedes our state and local budgets, U.S. global competitiveness and national security, and environmental efforts. Those who benefit most from this energy policy are the countries from which we now needlessly import oil and gas. It’s illegal and incompetent and I applaud A.G. Wrigley for proactively taking the fight to the federal government on our state’s behalf.”
Timeline:
- In October 2022, Senator Cramer joined colleagues in sending a letter to DOI Secretary Deb Haaland demanding the Biden Administration end its assault on domestic oil and gas production and continue to sell oil and gas leases in federal land and water.
- In August 2022, Senator Cramer responded to the D.C. District Court’s approval of North Dakota Attorney General Wrigley’s Motion to Intervene in attempts to invalidate all June 2022 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease sales.
- In April 2022, Senator Cramer penned an op-ed in the Washington Examiner on the Biden Administration’s all-out assault on domestic energy production.
- In August 2021, Senator Cramer issued a statement backing a motion requesting the Biden Administration be ordered to immediately hold quarterly oil and gas lease sales for public lands, remedy the unlawfully canceled lease sales from March and June, and comply with a recent federal ruling which blocked the Administration’s moratorium.
- Also in August 2021, Senator Cramer co-sponsored the Federal Land Freedom Act, a bill to give states the right to develop all of the energy resources on the federal lands located within the state’s borders.
- In March 2021, Senator Cramer joined colleagues in sending a letter To U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland regarding a virtual forum on President Joe Biden’s Executive Order imposing an indefinite moratorium on federal oil and gas lease sales.
- In January 2021, Sen. Cramer introduced the Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act, a bill to prohibit the president or his secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy departments from blocking energy or mineral leasing and permitting on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval.