BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum today issued the following statement after the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released proposed changes to how the U.S. government regulates onshore oil and gas leases on federal lands. The changes include increasing the minimum lease bond from $10,000 to $150,000, reducing the areas available for leasing, increasing the minimum bid amount from $2 to $10 per acre, and raising royalty rates.
“These proposed changes are just the latest in the Biden administration’s long list of misguided policies that discourage domestic energy production,” Burgum said. “By raisings costs for oil and gas producers who want to develop minerals on federal lands, BLM will drive away producers and drive up energy costs for consumers, who will be forced to pay higher prices for fuels imported from countries that don’t produce energy as cleanly as the United States. We should be selling energy to our friends and allies instead of buying it from our adversaries and putting our country’s economy, energy security and national security at risk.”