IPANM (Jan. 21, 2021) – On the second day of the Biden administration, the Interior Department has issued a temporary order that takes leasing & permitting decisions away from local BLM offices across the country. The move effectively halts all leasing and permitting on federal lands, which adversely impacts operators in New Mexico.

Per a news release on the BLM’s website:

“The Interior Department has issued a Secretarial Order that temporarily elevates review of relevant agency decisions, including final agency actions, regulatory actions, and energy development. During the 60-day window that the Order may be in effect, decision-making over these matters will be reserved for Department leadership for the purposes of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise.”

By forcing local BLM offices and bureaus to await any decisions from the Biden Administration on federal leases, it is clear the 60-day halt is a suspension of new leasing and drilling permits on federal lands in New Mexico, and across the country. The order specifically does not limit existing operations.

While campaigning for President, then-candidate Joe Biden pledged to ban new drilling on all federal lands permanently. Such a move would hit New Mexico harder than other oil & gas producing states due to the high percentage of federal land & mineral rights in the state.

IPANM members report that the order is the equivalent of “dropping a bomb on our operations” as plans to develop federal lands for oil & gas production are now on hold. Biden’s nominee for Interior Secretary, Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, was one of the authors of the Green New Deal and “wholeheartedly supports a permanent ban on fracking and new drilling” on federal lands. The consequences of such an action would disrupt the United States’ recent status as the number one producer of oil in world due to the boom in domestic shale oil development, especially in the Permian Basin of Texas & New Mexico. With lower domestic production, the United States will return to a dependency on foreign oil as consumers will still demand fossil fuels as a reliable energy source.

IPANM strongly urges the Biden Administration to reconsider any temporary or permanent ban on leasing and permitting of federal lands.

See IPANM’s Notification of the 60-Day Halt on Leasing and Permitting for more information.