06.13.25

Hoeven, Burgum Discuss Need for Oil, Gas, Coal & Critical Mineral Production to Support U.S. Energy Dominance

WASHINGTON – At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this week, Senator John Hoeven discussed with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum efforts to advance U.S. energy dominance, including:

  • Unlocking the potential of taxpayer-owned oil, gas and coal reserves.
  • Increasing critical mineral production on federal lands.
    • Hoeven pointed to the development of Talon Metals’ minerals processing facility, which is being developed in North Dakota and will support a secure, fully-domestic supply chain for battery production.

Hoeven stressed the importance of such activities in supporting local economies, while generating revenues for the federal government to help fund priorities and reduce the debt and deficit. Accordingly, Hoeven has been working with Burgum to provide regulatory relief and roll back burdensome rules at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

“Taxpayer-owned lands and minerals are a real strategic and economic asset to our nation, but only if we have a regulatory process in place that actually allows the multiple uses that Congress has mandated for these acres, including energy production,” said Hoeven. “Doing so is not only important to local economies, but is essential to our efforts to make the U.S. truly energy dominant. We’re going to get there by providing regulatory relief and certainty for our energy and critical mineral producers, and that’s exactly what I’m working to accomplish with Secretary Burgum.”

Providing Regulatory Relief

            In particular, Hoeven is working to rescind two Biden-era regulations at the BLM that threaten to severely limit access to vast areas of minerals and energy resources – the Public Lands Rule and the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for North Dakota. The Public Lands Rule would overhaul the management of more than 245 million acres of taxpayer-owned lands and establish “conservation leases” to lock away federal lands and minerals. At the same time, the RMP for North Dakota would close off leasing to 45 percent of potential federal oil and gas acreage and nearly 99 percent of federal coal acreage in the state.

-###-