February 17, 2022 |
U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), blasted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for ignoring Wednesday’s deadline to announce onshore oil and gas lease sales for the first quarter of this year.
“The Biden administration continues to defy the courts and the law,” Sen. Barrasso said in a statement. The BLM is required by the Mineral Leasing Act to hold onshore oil and gas lease sales every quarter. Five quarters have elapsed since Joe Biden entered the White House, and not single sale has been allowed in Wyoming or other Western states. In remarks on the senate floor yesterday, Barrasso said the president’s policies are designed to kill domestic energy production, and Americans are paying a heavy price.
The Department of the Interior is defying a June 2021 court ruling which ordered the administration to halt its ban on new oil and gas leases. The lawsuit was brought by the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance. the DOI vowed in court filings to publish notices of competitive sales in December and hold a lease sale 45 days later.
Barrasso called the broken promises part of Biden’s war on American energy. His remarks echoed what Governor Mark Gordon said in his state of the State address on Monday. The Biden Administration’s energy policies do more harm than good.
Energy prices have gone up eight months in a row, or 30-cents on the dollar since Joe Biden took office. According to data from Gasbuddy.com, the price at the pump has risen seven weeks in a row. The national average for a gallon of gas costs drivers 16.5 percent more than last month and nearly a dollar more—97 cents—cents from one year ago. WTI crude oil prices rose 13 percent in the past month to $94/barrel.
