House Natural Resources Would Give Oil Industry Free Rein on Public Lands, Waters

The House Committee on Natural Resources released its bill text that would be part of the massive tax cut measure for billionaires the majority in Congress is developing. It contains an unprecedented slate of direct attacks on the environment and public lands and waters.

The following is a statement from Kyle Jones, director of federal affairs at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“This measure would give the oil industry free rein to pillage our public lands and oceans. Instead of helping the American people and our shared public resources, it would allow the oil, coal and timber industries to pick and choose the areas they want to exploit. And it exposes irreplaceable Alaskan wilderness to destructive oil drilling, industrial roadways and mining.

“Worst of all, it allows fossil fuel companies and other big polluters to buy their way out of meaningful review or public input into their projects. So, that would mean one set of rules for the fossil fuel and logging barons, and another for the rest of us.

“The best thing that can be said about this measure, is that it may be too radical for even this Congress. For the good of Americans and our shared resources, it should be quickly cast aside and forgotten.”

Background

As part of the process of developing the reconciliation bill, the House Natural Resources committee released its draft measure last night. It includes the following provisions:

• mandatory on- and offshore oil and gas lease sales, from Alaska's Arctic Refuge to the Gulf, all while—
• allowing oil companies to select for themselves which of our public lands are leased; and
• rolling back important fiscal reforms that require producers to pay their fair share for drilling in public lands and waters;
• a pay-to-play system to rush environmental reviews and block any oversight, enabling polluters to bypass environmental safeguards with no way to hold them accountable to the public;
• four million acres of new coal leasing on public lands;
• brazen proposals to supplant the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act to further the development of yesterday’s energy sources;
• a destructive mandate to increase logging on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands by at least 25 percent over 2024 levels, while rescinding funding to identify and protect old-growth forests;
• attacks on protected spaces with chilling particularity, enabling large-scale mining in Alaska and mineral extraction just upstream of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters; and
• rescissions of an array of vital funding for projects that create jobs and support rural communities, like forest restoration, National Marine Sanctuary facilities and ecosystem restoration at the National Park Service.