The report follows a comprehensive review of federal leasing practices and priorities and highlights how the oil and gas industry has benefitted at the expense of taxpayers, wildlife, and public lands.
Today the Department of the Interior (DOI) released a long-awaited report on the state of the federal oil and gas leasing program and includes a path forward to bring the program into the 21st century so that it works for everybody.
“For too long, our oil and gas leasing program has been utilizing outdated practices that have long-term implications for the health, stewardship, and economics of our public lands. We are excited to see that the DOI has put forward recommendations that address long-standing problems with an antiquated leasing program. Congress should use this report as a guide for reforming the fiscal policies of federal oil and gas leasing program as part of the Build Back Better Act,” said Camilla Simon, Executive Director, Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO).
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May 27, 2021 -- Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández’s Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act of 2021 is a dynamic bill that would stimulate rural economies, create jobs, and cut down on pollution. The bill would help clean up state, private, public, and Tribal lands while also combatting the climate crisis. Passing out of the House Natural Resources Committee this week, it now heads to the House floor.
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This week, 28 state and local elected officials -- representing thousands of constituents across the southwestern United States -- sent a letter to the Interior Department and Secretary Deb Haaland in support of their pause and review of the federal oil and gas leasing program. The letter, organized by Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hiking, and the Outdoors (HECHO), comes as the first opportunity for public feedback to the administration closes and the Department prepares its report on the future of the leasing program. Western voters, particularly Latinos, overwhelmingly want oil and gas development on federal public lands to be stopped or strictly limited, not expanded.
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Today Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) sponsored the End Speculative Oil and Gas Leasing Act of 2021 that would prevent oil and gas speculators from leasing public lands that offer little to no potential for energy development.
Our nation’s public lands, and the people and wildlife who rely on them, face unprecedented challenges. Among them is the threat of speculative leasing, a destructive practice that allows oil and gas companies to tie up public lands with little to no potential for development in long-term leases. Speculative leasing not only wastes important government resources, but it also puts critical wildlife habitat in harm’s way, and hinders public access to the great outdoors, threatening important opportunities to connect with the landscape that is home to valuable cultural landmarks. Thankfully, it is not too late to stop this.
Read More“We’ve been asking for commonsense updates to oil and gas leasing policies established in the 1920s for years, but this proposal is a loser. The fees we should be raising are oil and gas royalty rates, which currently offer up our public lands at rock bottom rates.
We at HECHO value both our public lands and our voices. This policy of ‘pay to say’ would not only charge $150 or more just to object to an oil and gas lease on public lands, but it would also have a chilling effect on our constitutional right to petition our government. Our deep ties to the land and generations-old traditions on the land compel us, as stewards, to reject any attempt to drown out our voices, especially when it comes to decisions being made about our public lands.
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There’s no doubt that the oil and gas sector is an essential source of jobs and revenue to the state of New Mexico. It is a critical part of our economy. At the same time, New Mexico can’t afford to tie its fiscal health, and the welfare of our schools, colleges, and universities to the boom-and-bust cycles of fossil fuel markets.
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Decision-making about where to drill typically excludes diverse stakeholders, including Latino communities that hunt, fish, camp, and use public lands. As a result, our access to public lands for recreation, subsistence, education, and traditional cultural uses are impeded. And, worse yet, sometimes the landscape, wildlife, or water is irreparably damaged.
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