The Historic Inflation Reduction Act Made Critical and Overdue Changes to the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program, but the Department of Interior Must Act To Ensure These Are Long-Lasting

Our public lands are where families hike, fish, camp, hunt, create long-lasting memories and enjoy many more recreational opportunities the great outdoors offer.  

Unfortunately, our public lands, waters, wildlife and communities continue to be at risk and harmed by more than 100 years of a broken and woefully outdated oil and gas leasing program, which has allowed the industry to call all the shots, buy land on the cheap, and make Americans pay the bill for cleaning up their mess. 

The historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included several critical reforms to our government’s onshore oil and gas program by increasing royalty rates that had not changed in over 100 years and by eliminating the wasteful practice of leasing lands noncompetitively for just $1.50/acre.

But for these significant legislated reforms to be long-lasting and effectively applied, the Department of the Interior (DOI) must incorporate the IRA provisions into the Bureau of Land Management’s processes and implement concrete requirements and solid regulations for oil and gas leasing and development in the public lands it manages. 

Perhaps even more importantly, the Department of Interior must reform the bonding system so that oil and gas companies pay the cleanup costs of the lands they use. Right now, that burden often falls on the taxpayer. The department should also end speculative oil and gas leasing by ending the practice of leasing lands that have little potential for oil and gas.

Oil and gas companies continue to report combined profits of $190 billion for 2022 and exploit a broken federal oil and gas leasing program for their benefit.

The current leasing program puts the profits of oil and gas first at the expense of the public health, wildlife, environment, drinking water and economic drivers like outdoor recreation and tourism. 

Millions of leaking and abandoned oil and gas wells are a threat that must be tackled immediately. The longer these wells go without being reclaimed, the more harm they can cause to the environment, and taxpayers are left responsible for the clean-up cost and land restoration. 

In Mesa County, Colorado, taxpayers are on the hook to clean up the abandoned wells within the bounds of the watersheds that provide drinking water to the over 62,000 residents of Grand Junction and its surrounding communities after the oil and gas company Fram Operating LLC filed for bankruptcy. 

In southeastern New Mexico, an abandoned well is located less than three miles away from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. For years several abandoned wells near the iconic Canyonlands National Park and Arches National in Utah have not been properly plugged. These abandoned wells threaten recreational resources and the outdoor economy.  

Nearly half a million acres of public lands will be open to bidding by oil and gas companies beginning in May 2023, while there are already over 11.3 million acres of unused leases.   

Any new development on public lands could contribute to the existing abandoned wells crisis unless the DOI establishes new rules for the federal leasing system before any more sales are held. 

According to the 2023 Conservation in the West poll, an overwhelming majority (91%) of Western voters support reforming the system and requiring oil and gas companies, rather than federal and state governments, to pay for all the clean-up and land restoration costs after drilling. 

HECHO urges the Department of the Interior to listen to the public and act quickly by initiating a rulemaking that builds on the historic progress made on oil and gas reform in the Inflation Reduction Act, implementing more robust measures to ensure responsible energy development and protect public lands, wildlife, and taxpayers before new lease sales take place.  

It is time to finally put the public’s interests ahead of the oil and gas industry’s profits.