BLM sued by Continental Resources over stalled drilling permits

 

The Bureau of Land Management has been sued by Oklahoma City’s Continental Resources in federal court over delays of dozens of North Dakota drilling permits for federal lands. It’s considered a challenge of the Biden administration’s anti-fossil fuel moves taken immediately after he took office.

The company’s Feb. 23 lawsuit in North Dakota U.S. District Court claimed the permits should have been approved in the Trump administration but the BLM blamed the first delay on repeated software errors.

But Continental says the second delay was the result of the Biden administration’s order to review agency decisions.

“BLM’s illegal delay in processing these has injured and will continue to injured Continental,” argued the company in its lawsuit. “Further delay will postpone production.”

Continental is asking a judge to order the BLM to approve the permits. The company originally filed its suit and listed 50 pending applications for drilling on federal lands in North Dakota, a state where Continental has become a major producer in the Bakken play.

The company says the Department of Interior’s actions are unconstitutional. Its 44-page lawsuit alleges that by delaying 50 of Continental’s permits, the government violated the Mineral Leasing Act. The suit said the Act lays out deadlines that the department must follow in the permitting review process.