WYOMING – Gov. Mark Gordon issued a statement on Wednesday after receiving news the Bureau of Land Management will not hold its second-quarter oil and gas lease sale.

“The announcement by the Bureau of Land Management to not hold the second quarter oil and gas lease sale due to an ongoing review ordered by President Biden is disappointing, disheartening and not surprising. Federal reviews of anything typically take months, and sometimes years,” Gordon’s statement read. “What is most disappointing is that the Department of Interior could have chosen to review the federal oil and gas leasing program while conducting quarterly sales. Instead they chose to tighten the financial choke of revenue that would normally flow to the state from lease sales, all the while refraining from consulting with the very states and communities that are directly impacted by these decisions.”

Gordon also said that Wyoming has received about $35 million annually, on average, from oil and gas lease sales on federal lands over the past eight years.

So far this year, Wyoming hasn’t collected anything because of the haults.

Gordon also noted the lawsuit the state filed in the District Court of Wyoming that alleges the postponement of a leasing moratorium is illegal.

The governor is set to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee next week on the impacts this leasing moratorium has had on Wyoming.