Today, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the initiation of a roughly 225,000 acre, 20-year mineral withdrawal in Colorado's Thomson Divide. He also designated a separate 54,000 acre national monument as the Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument.

"As if it weren’t enough for Joe Biden to deplete our emergency strategic petroleum reserves for political gamesmanship and then getting brushed off by OPEC after begging them to increase oil supply, he is now doubling down on incompetence," House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said." Taking even more domestic production off the table is attacking American energy production, American jobs, American workers and leaving American consumers to pay the tab."

"Rather than working on real issues like reducing inflation and improving the economy, Joe Biden came to Colorado today to unilaterally lock up hundreds of thousands of acres through the stroke of his pen and prevent Coloradans from using our public lands for activities that we want and need," U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said." Shamefully, Biden ignored the concerns and opposition of impacted communities so he could appease Green New Deal extremists. Equally troubling, they hid their true motivations and failed to be transparent about the harm and restrictions that will result from this massive land grab. With gas prices skyrocketing, OPEC decreasing its oil production, and Americans already struggling to pay their utility bills, this land grab to shut down American energy and natural resources production could not come at a worse time."

Background

The Thompson Divide mineral withdrawal is the latest in a string of Biden administration attacks on American energy and mineral development. The 225,000 acre withdrawal, originally proposed in the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, was announced despite opposition from the local community and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who represents this district.

President Biden has leased less acreage for oil and gas development than any president in history while simultaneously depleting the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), making the U.S. increasingly vulnerable to the whims of OPEC+ nations. At a time when Americans are facing rising prices at the pump, this action will ban new energy development in a region with longstanding oil and gas production.

The Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument is the first national monument designated by Biden under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Obama-Biden administration abused the Antiquities Act more than any other administration in history, using it 34 times to lock up 553,599,880 acres of land and water as national monuments, representing 66 percent of all of the land and water ever designated as a national monument using the Antiquities Act. The Obama-Biden administration used the Antiquities Act to lock up an average of 189,589 acres every day in office, or an area roughly equivalent to the size of Biden’s home state of Delaware for every month of the administration.