House Natural Resources Democrats propose federal leasing freeze
US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and six other Democrats on the committee introduced a bill on Dec. 17 which would freeze federal fossil fuel leasing while US Department of the Interior agencies and the US Agriculture Department’s US Forest Service develop plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from public lands and waters by 2040.
Under HR 5435, DOI’s Bureaus of Land Management and Ocean Energy Management and Agriculture’s USFS would have to meet climate pollution reduction targets at specific intervals starting in 2025 and publish strategic plans every four years detailing how the agencies would meet the legislation’s pollution reduction targets, the bill’s sponsors said at a press conference.
The measure also would increase royalties on fossil fuel extraction on federally managed lands onshore and in offshore waters and use the proceeds to support workers and communities feeling impacts from a transition away from what the federal lawmakers described as "dirty energy development."
Oil and gas trade associations strongly criticized the proposal. Environmental organizations applauded it.
“This is another attempt to slip Green New Deal-inspired legislation through the House,” National Ocean Industries Association Pres. Erik G. Milito responded. “A ban, even temporary, on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters does not stop the world from needing or producing energy – it only stops new American production. Countries like Russia and Iran will be more than happy to make up the difference in energy production.”
“We agree on the need to address the risks of climate change, but this is the wrong approach,” said Frank J. Macchiarola, the American Petroleum Institute’s senior vice-president for policy. “US leaders should empower US energy leadership, but restrictive energy policies like a ban on leasing or safe and reliable hydraulic fracturing would threaten America's energy security and household budgets, surrender control of America’s energy future, and retreat from America's energy leadership.”
“It’s just another ‘keep-it-in-the-ground’ bill,” Western Energy Alliance Pres. Kathleen Sgamma told OGJ by telephone from Denver. She did not feel it was necessary to elaborate.
The bill’s cosponsors, all Democrats, included Rep. Deb Haaland (NM), the committee’s vice chair; Rep. Alan Lowenthal (Calif.), who chairs the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee; and Reps. Mike Levin (Calif.), A. Donald McEachin (Va.), Diana DeGette (Colo.), and Gregorio Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands).
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Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.
