BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate voted 51-49 to reject a resolution of disapproval for the Bureau of Land Management’s “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation” rule, commonly known as the flaring and venting rule.
“I’m extremely disappointed that the Senate failed to revoke the intrusive, one-size-fits-all BLM flaring rule,” Burgum said. “This duplicative rule intrudes on our state’s authority to regulate oil and gas waste on state and privately owned lands, creating confusion over jurisdictional boundaries while not fully acknowledging the tremendous progress North Dakota and the industry have made to reduce flaring. Allowing the BLM rule to remain in place will have detrimental impacts on a significant portion of oil and gas operations on public lands and on North Dakota’s economy as a whole. We thank Sen. Hoeven for his vote in support of the resolution and hope for future action to repeal the rule.”
North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana filed a legal challenge to the rule immediately after it was published in the Federal Register last November. A district court judge subsequently denied all of the petitioners’ motions for preliminary injunctions, which allows for the rule to go into effect. However, a March 2017 executive order from President Trump directs the Secretary of the Interior to review the rule and if possible, suspend, revise or rescind the BLM rule. Burgum also expressed his strong support for using the Congressional Review Act to repeal the rule in a letter sent in February to Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation.