Sponsors
The bill boosts domestic oil and gas leasing and clarifies agency roles to increase short-term production and planning predictability, at the cost of higher local pollution, greater greenhouse‑gas emissions, increased oversight strain, and potential taxpayer cleanup liabilities.
Domestic oil and gas producers, and energy utilities — gain access to up to ~10% more federal acreage for leasing, creating new production, jobs, and revenue opportunities.
U.S. energy consumers and national infrastructure — increased domestic leasing can expand supply and reduce reliance on foreign oil when the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is drawn down, supporting short-term energy security.
Federal agencies and local governments — clarifies interagency consultation and assigns predictable planning responsibilities to Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Defense, improving coordination and planning predictability.
All Americans, especially climate-vulnerable communities — expanding fossil-fuel leasing increases greenhouse gas emissions and undermines national greenhouse‑gas reduction goals, slowing the clean-energy transition.
Nearby rural and urban communities — increased leasing and drilling on federal and OCS lands raises local pollution and health risks for people living downwind or near sites.
Federal employees and local governments — targets and timelines tied to sales could force agencies to rush reviews, reducing oversight time and straining permitting processes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOE to implement a plan to raise federal oil-and-gas lease percentages across several agencies to match any SPR drawdown, capped at a 10% increase.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress January 3, 2025
Requires the Energy Secretary to develop and carry out a compensatory plan before the first time the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is drawn down after this law takes effect (unless a severe energy supply interruption is declared). The plan must raise the share of Federal lands leased for oil and gas under the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Defense by the same percentage as the SPR drawdown, but may not increase leased percentages by more than 10% in total, and must be prepared in consultation with those agencies.