North Dakota sues Biden administration over halt on oil and gas leases

North Dakota sues the Biden administration over order to stop oil and gas leases on public lands claiming it will lose $4BILLION

  • State claims it would more than $4 billion in revenue this year if order resumes
  • North Dakota is nation’s second-largest oil producer 
  •  Lawsuit says state already lost $82 million in two cancelled sales 
  • State Attorney General vows to protect state’s economy and workforce
  • Joins 14 other states suing over moratorium on new leases


North Dakota filed a lawsuit this Wednesday against the Biden administration over its suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water, claiming it will lose the state more than $4 billion in revenue and keep more than half a billion barrels of oil in the ground. 

President Joe Biden ordered the suspension in his first days in office as part of his climate change agenda. 

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in a statement that he sued ‘to protect North Dakota’s economy, the jobs of our hardworking citizens, and North Dakota’s rights to control its own natural resources.’  

President Joe Biden ordered the halt in his first days in office as a part of his climate change agenda to decrease the nation's dependence on gas and oil

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, left, said he filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s order to stop oil and gas leases on public lands to protect the state’s economy

North Dakota is the second-largest oil producer in the nation and would stand to lose more than $4 billion in revenue this year if the federal suspension on oil and gas leases continue

North Dakota is the second-largest oil producer in the nation and would stand to lose more than $4 billion in revenue this year if the federal suspension on oil and gas leases continue

The moratorium could halt the construction of more than 1,000 oil and gas wells in the state and the extraction of half a billion barrels of oil

The moratorium could halt the construction of more than 1,000 oil and gas wells in the state and the extraction of half a billion barrels of oil

Stenehjem said his office began working on the suit immediately after the suspension issued. 

North Dakota is the nation’s second-largest oil producer behind Texas. 

It joins 14 other states who have also filed lawsuits over the moratorium on new leases.  

The lawsuit claimed that the state had already lost $82 million from two canceled sales by the Bureau of Land Management. 

The bureau and the Department of the Interior, the federal agency that oversees the oil and gas leases, declined to comment on the lawsuit.  

If the moratorium were to continue, the suit added, the leases of almost 150,000 acres of land in North Dakota would be blocked, halting the construction of more than 1,000 oil and gas wells and the extraction of more than 500 million barrels of oil.

It would cost the state a total of $4.77 billion, the NY Times reports.  

Stenehjem said that oil and gas production from leased federal and tribal land generates nearly $100 million annually in royalty revenue for the state.