Governor Mark Gordon is no fan of the federal government’s plan to increase the costs to oil and gas companies seeking to drill on federal lands.
“If there was any doubt, it could not be more clear now that the Department of Interior has lost its way. Within a day of announcing its renewable energy rule designed to promote the equivalent of a modern-day gold rush of development for renewables by reducing fees and rents on federal lands by 80%, the Interior issued an oil and gas rule increasing costs to Wyoming’s industry by 1400%.
The Interior Department raised the cost for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands, raising leasing fees, and royalty rates for the first time in decades; a move justified as generating more money for taxpayers and ensuring adequate cleanup costs.
Interior officials said the final rule is the first update to the oil and gas leasing program in decades, and the first update to the so-called “bonding requirement” since 1960.
President Joe Biden campaigned in 2020 on the promise of ending all new drilling on public lands, a pledge he has since backed away from as he has sought to balance his goals on climate with issues of energy security. Still, Interior’s new rule will spark pushback from oil and gas producers, who have argued Biden has whipsawed between urging them to drill more following Russia’s 2022 invasion and then blaming them just months later for the record-high gas prices.
“It is time we get back to common-sense energy policy. I will continue to fight against federal policies that are short-sighted and antagonistic to Wyoming’s industries, our workers, and our way of life. We need to build a realistic, all-of-the-above energy strategy that correctly plans a future of reliable and dispatchable power and properly accounts for – and balances – the costs and impacts of all energy sources,” said Governor Gordon.
