Sponsors (12)
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Steve Daines · Last progress February 6, 2025
The bill increases and regularizes oil and gas leasing to boost domestic energy jobs and investment while preserving existing lease rights, but it raises greenhouse gas emissions and spill risks, may reduce fiscal returns, and limits executive flexibility to respond to new environmental or market developments.
Energy-sector workers, local businesses, and communities see more and more-predictable onshore and offshore lease sales, increasing job opportunities and encouraging investment in drilling, services, and related construction.
Current leaseholders and their lenders retain protections because valid existing leases are preserved, reducing legal and financial disruption for investors.
Allows limited leasing in some moratorium areas to enable coastal conservation projects (e.g., beach nourishment, wetlands restoration), which can benefit coastal communities and local governments.
Communities nationwide face higher greenhouse gas emissions and increased local air and water pollution because mandatory expanded fossil fuel leasing increases production.
Coastal and fishing communities face greater risk of oil spills and damage to marine ecosystems from increased Gulf and Cook Inlet leasing, threatening livelihoods and public health.
Fixing a 12.5% royalty rate for specified leases could lower federal and state revenue compared with market-based or negotiated rates, reducing funds for public services and taxpayers' returns.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Mandates expanded annual onshore and offshore federal oil and gas lease sales (onshore from FY2025, offshore from FY2026), sets a Gulf sale schedule through 2035, and extends/expands a Gulf moratorium to 2035 with limited exceptions.
Requires expanded mandatory oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and in the Gulf of Mexico. For onshore federal lands, it directs the Interior Department to hold at least four lease sales per year in specified western and Plains States (and any other states with available leasing) starting in fiscal year 2025, offering all eligible parcels and replacing canceled or deferred sales. For offshore, it requires at least two region-wide Gulf of Mexico lease sales each year starting in fiscal year 2026, adopts the terms used in a recent Gulf sale, and sets a semiannual schedule of specific sale dates through 2035. The bill also extends and expands an existing Eastern Gulf moratorium through December 31, 2035, preserves valid existing leases, and creates a narrow environmental exception for certain conservation-related activities in moratorium areas.