A coalition of Republican senators is urging Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to revoke a Biden-era rule that dramatically increased minimum bonding requirements that oil and gas companies must pay before they can drill on federal lands.
The Bureau of Land Management in April 2024 finalized the rule that, among other things, upped the minimum amount of cleanup insurance companies must have in place to $150,000 per lease from the previous $10,000 per lease put in place more than six decades ago.
“While we strongly support proper stewardship of our public lands and the need to ensure that adequate bonding is in place to clean up abandoned wells, we must also ensure that bonding requirements are set at a reasonable and achievable rate for all oil and gas producers,” the coalition led by Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in the letter to Burgum on Thursday.
Such a seismic increase in bonding fees would “make it virtually impossible for small energy producers to continue to operate,” the 10 Republican senators wrote. They asked that Burgum “review and roll back the provisions in the rule.”
