Hoeven Makes the Case for “Crack the Code 2.0” with Interior Secretary Burgum at Senate Energy Hearing

WASHINGTON – At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing examining the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the Department of the Interior, Senator John Hoeven and Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum discussed advancing the Senator’s “Crack the Code 2.0” initiative to expand enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the Bakken while extending the life of North Dakota’s coal-fired power plants. Hoeven is working to finalize $36 million in Department of Energy (DOE) funding for a $157 million large-scale demonstration project, including $76 million in private investment and $45 million from the state of North Dakota. “We believe that this project will double the life of our coal fired electric industry, double the life and probably more than double the amount of oil and gas we produce… we’ve produced about 6 billion barrels of oil… but that number is going down… we need to use enhanced oil recovery to start increasing that number… we only produce about 10 to 12% of the oil that’s in the shale… so we’ve put together… a large scale demonstration project… to take CO2 from our coal fired electric plants and to not only double their life, but to double production in the Bakken,” said Hoeven. “I would support it… there’s a big opportunity here for not only to increase production, but to take care of the concerns that some have about emissions. Your crack the code 2.0 does both of those things simultaneously… it’s important, because… when we find ourselves dependent on those that are waging war against us… the U.S. is in a position today to sell energy to our friends and allies, so they don’t have to buy it from people that are waging war and terrorism against us,” said Secretary Burgum. Crack the Code 2.0 is further supported by a policy Hoeven worked to secure in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3), also known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act, to properly align the 45Q tax credit to incentivize the use of CO2 for EOR. Doing so supports coal producers’ continued operations by providing access to a new revenue stream through selling CO2 to oil producers, while providing a strong, long-term incentive for EOR, making it the clear, commercially viable choice to improve oil recovery in the Bakken. -###-