Tell Congress to Improve the Management of Oil and Gas Development on Public Lands
Updating federal oil and gas policies is a TU priority – our public lands, waters, wildlife, and communities depend on it. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) modernized laws governing the federal onshore oil and gas program, bringing it into the 21st century. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Rule will help implement these important provisions.
Among them are reasonable fiscal reforms that help ensure taxpayers get a fair return for the use of our public lands and natural resources while better protecting our lands and waters. These reforms include increasing the royalty rate for producing oil and gas on federal public lands, realigning fees to account for decades of inflation and reducing speculation by ending non-competitive leasing.
The rule includes a host of other long-overdue reforms, including requirements to hold bad actors accountable; preference criteria to steer leasing decisions away from critical fish and wildlife habitats and cultural resources; and bonding reforms urgently needed to help ensure that oil and gas operators — rather than taxpayers and surrounding communities — bear the cost of cleaning up drilling sites after production ends. These protections are essential to safeguarding our incredible public lands, the fish and wildlife that depend on them, and our fishing and hunting opportunities.
Congress needs to hear that public lands users and people dedicated to trout and salmon conservation support these sensible reforms.