SANTA FE – This week, during The Energy Council's Annual Meeting in Montana, Senator Steven Neville (District 2-San Juan) joined North Dakota Senator Jessica Bell to co-author a policy statement urging the Biden Administration to consider the affects a federal lands moratorium on oil and gas leasing would have. The policy statement passed the Council unanimously and will be distributed to federal officials, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland.

"The oil and gas industry is an economic driver both locally and nationally," said Senator Neville. "Unfortunately, the federal government appears to be ignoring the objections of states like New Mexico that rely heavily on oil and gas production to fund vital programs, public education, and infrastructure. I am proud to have co-authored this policy statement and I hope the Biden Administration will finally heed our concerns and consider the impact to states like ours."

In early June, all Republican legislators from New Mexico signed a letter to President Biden and Secretary Haaland expressing their opposition to the federal moratorium and citing its disproportionate impact on New Mexico. The Energy Council policy statement notes that according to the Department of the Interior, in 2019, New Mexico received $1.17 billion from oil and gas activity on federal land. Further, the federal Bureau of Land Management estimates that oil and gas activity on federal lands currently supports around 300,000 jobs nationally.

The Energy Council is a non-partisan legislative organization comprised of 14 energy-producing states in the United States and two Canadian provinces.