Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) reintroduced the Protecting Our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act to prohibit the President or the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, or Energy from blocking mineral leasing and permitting on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval.
“President Biden’s war on America’s energy producers has raised energy costs for all Americans, eliminated opportunities for good-paying American jobs, and cut potential state and local budgets. These endless pauses and arbitrary withdrawals make us more reliant on countries like China and Saudi Arabia,” said Senator Cramer. “The POWER Act gives Congress more authority and oversight when the Executive Branch wants to upend mineral policy on federal lands within our states.”
Senators Cramer and Lummis are joined by Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jim Risch (R-ID), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) cosponsored the legislation. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced the House companion bill.
Timeline:
- In January 2023, Senator Cramer issued a statement backing North Dakota’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI).
- 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.