WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released the following statement after North Dakota Federal District Court Judge Daniel Traynor ordered the United States Department of Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Chief of Fluids Adjudications Section Samantha Iron Shirt to appear before him to testify in February 2024.

This is the latest development in North Dakota’s battle against the Biden administration’s unlawful obstruction of fossil fuel leasing in North Dakota – one of the top oil producing states in the country. At the upcoming February hearing before Judge Traynor, the Court and North Dakota will review Interior’s plans for the Q1 and Q2 2024 oil and gas lease sales, keeping pressure on Interior to continue to hold quarterly lease sales in North Dakota. 

“President Biden cannot hide behind Department of Justice attorneys any longer. The BLM is responsible for leasing decisions, not a cadre of lawyers tasked with circumventing the law on behalf of an administration bent on environmental activism. This witness will have to provide honest answers to the Court and state regarding federal government compliance with the preliminary injunction in place in North Dakota’s lawsuit. These unlawful delays are directly hurting the state’s bottom line, and it’s time for some accountability.”

Background: 

Within a week of his inauguration, President Biden issued an Executive Order to effectively cancel new federal oil and gas leases. BLM then failed to hold statutorily mandated quarterly oil and gas lease sales for the entirety of 2021, and only held a single lease sale in 2022.

The state of North Dakota sued in federal court, and in March of this year Judge Traynor issued a Preliminary Injunction against BLM, finding North Dakota was irreparably harmed and the administration’s efforts were likely illegal, enjoining the DOI from further cancellations. Judge Traynor also imposed tight reporting requirements on BLM to ensure compliance with his Preliminary Injunction Order.     

DOI resumed oil and gas lease sales in North Dakota and has held a quarterly oil and gas lease sale in each quarter since North Dakota obtained a preliminary injunction. North Dakota successfully forced quarterly lease sales, but the Court had to issue several orders to keep DOI in compliance with the Preliminary Injunction: 

  • In a July 7, 2023 Order, the Court required BLM to expand the scope of its status reports to provide more detail on long-pending nominated lands in North Dakota.  
  • In a subsequent August 10, 2023 Order, the Court chided BLM for leaving numerous blanks in its status reports, requiring BLM to provide more fulsome information on the expected leasing dates for large amounts of long-pending and nominated parcels. 
  • In an October 23, 2023 hearing, the Court ordered Interior to present Chief of Fluids Adjudications Section Samantha Iron Shirt at the next scheduled February 2024 hearing to answer questions from the Court and North Dakota on Interiors leasing progress.

Lynn Helms, Director of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources, testified the nominated parcels waiting to be leased in North Dakota are worth approximately $1.08 billion in revenue over the next 10 years, or $9.0 million per month.