Senate passes massive fossil fuel giveaway

Washington D.C. -- A budget reconciliation bill was passed by the Senate riddled with reckless proposals that would force oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Western Arctic’s  National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and would give industry unfettered access to over 200 million acres of public lands; sharply reduce the royalties paid to the American people when fossil fuel companies deplete our natural resources; require quarterly lease sales in every Western state regardless of industry interest and resurrect noncompetitive leasing where parcels that don’t receive competitive bids can be sold for as little as $1.50 per acre; all while dramatically expanding coal mining and logging on public lands. 

Chase Huntley, vice president of federal policy at The Wilderness Society made the following statement about the news: 

“The Senate just passed a bill that reeks of fossil fuel influence and is wildly out of touch. While the majority in the Senate might be chalking up the bill as a success, they seem to be forgetting about the tens of millions of people who enjoy the same lands they’ve put on the table for energy development up for auction. We fought to ensure this bill did not sell off public lands, and we’ll keep fighting to guarantee our public lands are not overrun by leasing and development. The House must stand up and reject this bill.” 

This Senate bill fundamentally tips the scales of public lands policy in favor of the oil and gas industry through several procedural and fiscal giveaways that will have enormous ramifications for the public lands we know and love. This includes essentially allowing the industry to point to any eligible parcel on a map, nominate it, pay nothing and attain a lease within three to 18 months.  

Additionally, BLM will not only have no authority to take nominated acreage off the table due to public comment or resource conflicts – they will be required to ignore those considerations. Whatever the oil and gas industry wants, they’ll get. 

The bill also would require the National Forest System and the BLM to more than double the amount of timber logged in the Western U.S. after 10 years. This extremely harmful section is singularly about boosting logging to benefit the logging industry. 

Next, the Senate bill will land in the hands of the House to pass or amend further.  

For more information, contact edenny@tws.org