Hinds Today

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has thrown her support behind a resolution aimed at overturning a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rule, perceived as detrimental to the U.S. oil and gas industry. The rule in question is part of the Biden administration's broader environmental agenda.

Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has cosponsored a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval put forth by U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.). The BLM rule, known as Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process, is expected to cause significant damage to small, independent oil and gas producers.

“The Biden administration’s unrelenting assault on the American oil and gas industry completely ignores the economic realities of how its draconian rules harm U.S. energy security, shuts down independent producers, and kills jobs in rural communities,” Hyde-Smith said. “This BLM rule deserves to be stopped—and fast.”

“Joe Biden set out on an anti-American energy war path on Day One, and ever since Montana’s small oil and gas producers have been a target. This new BLM rule will drive producers out of business, raise costs for Montana families, and force the U.S. to run to our adversaries to meet our energy needs. It must be reversed,” Daines added.

The contentious rule significantly increases royalties, rates, minimum bids, costs and bonding requirements for oil and gas producers operating on federal lands. For instance, it raises the minimum lease bond from $10,000 to $150,000 per well and hikes the minimum statewide bond from $25,000 to $500,000.

Several other senators including Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have joined Daines and Hyde-Smith in introducing the resolution.

In December, Hyde-Smith cosponsored the Supporting Made in America Energy (SMART) Act (S.3445). This act would mandate the U.S. Department of the Interior to issue four onshore oil and gas lease sales and two offshore oil and gas lease sales in each available area in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. It also seeks to prevent the President from pausing, canceling, delaying, deferring, or otherwise impeding the federal energy mineral leasing process through executive order or administrative procedure.