BISMARCK, ND (Attorney General) – Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley announced that U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor in Bismarck yesterday ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to resume conducting quarterly oil and gas lease sales in North Dakota that had been illegally cancelled by BLM. “The Court’s order directs BLM to comply with federal law and do what Congress commanded BLM to do,” said Wrigley, stating that it was “unfortunate that North Dakota had to take BLM to court twice to finally get it to do its duty.”

This dispute started in 2021 when President Biden issued a unilateral Executive Order “pausing” the quarterly oil and lease sales required by the Mineral Leasing Act, and afterwards gave speeches claiming that there would be “no more drilling.”

Wrigley praised yesterday’s decision as a “victory for the rule of law,” observing that “BLM’s illegal cancellations were costing North Dakota’s citizens over $100 million in revenue a year and depriving the Nation of much needed access to oil and gas during these difficult times of high inflation and threats to our energy security.”

State of North Dakota vs. United States Department of Interior et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-00148-DMT-CRH.