With gas prices soaring and a national spotlight on the issue, there is no shortage of focus on areas like the Uintah Basin where the oil and gas industry is a pillar of the economy. Kathleen Sgamma of Western Energy Alliance responded to what she called the “White House blame game on leases.” On March 3rd, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about increasing domestic oil production and in her answer she stated that there are “9,000 approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently.” Sgamma took to Twitter stating that the leases cannot be developed when permits are not approved and a Twitter storm ensued. Sgamma shared a detailed response the next day in an effort to, in her words, “provide insight into the numbers and the myriad other delays the administration puts in the way of American producers.” First Sgamma shared that there are 37,496 leases currently in effect and assuming Psaki’s number of 9,000 non-producing leases is correct, a 76 percent utilization rate is actually high. Sgamma then made other points, including the following: Many leases are held up in litigation by environmental groups. Companies are waiting to put together a complete leasehold which ties together multiple leases but at present cannot due to the Biden leasing ban. Leases cannot be developed without the government conducting an environmental analysis under NEPA which usually takes years to complete. Finally, not all leases are developed because after conducting exploratory work, a company determines there is not sufficient oil and natural gas to do so. Sgamma also went into detail on the 4,621 permits to drill that are held up awaiting approval. Read Sgamma’s entire response shared at www.westernenergyalliance.org.
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