Canceling valid leases, removing acreage from future sales, and attempting to reduce production in Alaska while taking steps to allow Iran and Venezuela to produce more oil, with less environmental regulations, is senseless and downright shameful.
That’s what Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said in a statement posted on his website after the Department of the Interior (DOI) of the The United States revealed that it canceled oil and gas leases. in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and proposed new protections in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve (NPRA).
“I cannot explain to the American people why we would be more dependent on foreign oil imports, eliminate high-paying American jobs, and raise the cost of our electric bills and gas prices all over the world. country,” Manchin said in the statement. .
“This is yet another example of this administration caving in to the radical left without regard for clear direction from Congress or American energy security,” he added.
“Let’s be clear: This is another attempt to use executive action to circumvent a law to get what this administration doesn’t have the votes to get in Congress,” Manchin continued.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 mandated two lease sales of no less than 400,000 acres within ANWR’s coastal plain, the statement posted on Manchin’s website noted, adding that the first sale was held in January 2021 and that a second sale is to occur before December 22, 2024.
A statement posted on the office of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s website noted that the DOI secretary has the authority to cancel oil and gas leases issued in violation of statute or regulation , but added that there is no such violation in ANWR contracts.
“The leases AIDEA holds in ANWR were legally issued in a sale ordered by Congress,” Dunleavy said in the statement.
“It’s clear that President Biden needs an update to the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine. Federal agencies can’t rewrite the laws, and that’s exactly what the Department of the Interior is trying to do here,” he said. add.
“We will fight for Alaska’s right to develop its own resources and go to court to right the wrong of the Biden administration,” Dunleavy continued.
In a statement posted on his website, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said, “There is palpable anger and frustration among Alaskans about the Biden administration’s relentless attack on our economy and our ability to legally access our lands.”
“This war in Alaska is devastating not only to Alaska, but to the nation’s energy security,” he added.
“Biden’s Interior Department’s incredulous announcement of a second ANWR lease sale begs the question: What investor in their right mind would ever consider spending millions of dollars on ANWR after seeing how the administration did the last tenant pull the rug out from under the previous? sale?” he continued.
“Unfortunately, that seems to be the point. The administration is running a legal charade pretending to follow the law that requires them to hold lease sales with no intention of honoring those leases, dare to any investor to waste their time and money, “he said.
Also in the statement, Alaska Representative Mary Peltola said, “I am deeply frustrated by the reversal of these leases in ANWR.”
“This administration showed that it is capable of listening to Alaskans with the approval of the Willow project, and it is some of these North Slope Inupiat communities that are most affected by this decision,” Peltola added.
“I will continue to advocate for them and for Alaska’s ability to explore and develop our natural resources, from the critical minerals we need for our clean energy transition to the domestic oil and gas we need to get there. We can only make this transition by listening to the people on the ground,” continued Peltola.
Rigzone has asked the DOI, the US Department of Energy and the White House for comment on the statements by Manchin, Dunleavy, Sullivan and Peltola. As of this writing, the DOI has declined to comment, the DOE referred Rigzone to the White House, and the White House has yet to respond to Rigzone.
In a statement posted on his Twitter page on September 7, US President Joe Biden said: “My administration is canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under last administration on the Arctic Refuge and proposes to protect 13 million acres in the Western Arctic.” .
“There is more to do, but we are taking steps to meet the moment for future generations,” he added in the statement.
My administration is canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the last administration in the Arctic Refuge and proposes to protect 13 million acres in the western Arctic.
There is more to do, but we are taking steps to know the timing for future generations.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 7, 2023
In a statement posted on its website last week, the DOI revealed that at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had authorized the cancellation of seven oil leases and remaining gas emitted by the previous administration in the Coastal Plain. The leases were suspended in June 2021 following the issuance of Secretary’s Order (SO) 3401, the DOI noted in the release.
The DOI also announced that it proposed new regulations for the NPRA that it said would “ensure maximum protection for the more than 13 million acres of special areas on the reservation, while supporting subsistence activities for in Alaska Native communities.”
“The proposed rule, previewed in March 2023, adds to President Biden’s actions to protect millions of acres of land and water in the Arctic, including removing approximately 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea, ensuring that the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean is off limits. new oil and gas lease,” the DOI said in the statement.
“With climate change warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, we must do everything within our control to meet the highest standards of care to protect this fragile ecosystem,” Haaland said in the DOI statement.
“President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious conservation and climate agenda in history. The steps we are taking … in addition to this commitment, based on the best available science and in recognition of the indigenous knowledge of the original stewards of this area, to safeguard our public lands for future generations,” Haaland added.
In its statement, the DOI noted that the previous administration held an oil and gas lease sale on the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain on January 6, 2021, and issued new 10-year leases tracts covering more than 430,000 acres.
On January 21, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13990, directing the department to review oil and gas leasing on the refuge, the DOI noted, adding that since then, two of Leases issued have been canceled and refunded upon request. of the tenants.
The DOI noted in its statement that the Secretary of the Interior has the authority to cancel or suspend oil and gas leases issued in violation of a statute or regulation. A draft supplemental environmental impact statement released last week by the Bureau of Land Management and the US Fish and Wildlife Service “developed information supporting the Department’s determination that the 2021 lease sale was seriously flawed and based on a number of fundamental legal deficiencies,” the DOI. he said in the statement.
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
