Whiting Petroleum Co. pump jack pulls crude oil from the Bakken region of the Northern Plains near Bainville, Mont. BILLINGS, MONT. -- In the closing months of the Trump administration, energy companies stockpiled enough drilling permits for western public lands to keep pumping oil for years and undercut President-elect Joe Biden's plans to curb new drilling because of climate change, according to public records and industry analysts.
In Wyoming's Thunder Basin National Grassland, a prairie expanse that abounds with wildlife and offers hiking, fishing and hunting, oil companies EOG Resources and Devon Energy -- which amassed the most federal permits this year -- have permission to drill three dozen wells among fields of sage brush.
With markets still in flux and oil producers slashing budgets, major companies nevertheless have been acquiring enough permits to keep pumping through Biden's upcoming term. The government approved about 500 new drilling permits in September, more than double the same month in 2019. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Chris Tollefson said the agency had streamlined permitting while still following environmental laws.
Houston-based EOG Resources amassed the most permits this year -- 1,024 -- including 549 since September, according to AP's analysis.