House Democrats target oil and gas industry

Bullseye (target) - Wikipedia

 

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee plan a crackdown on the oil and gas industry as part of President Biden’s efforts to reform the federal oil and gas leasing program. They put the industry in their bullseye.

The Washington Examiner reports their blueprint includes raising costs on producers and imposing stricter regulatory requirements.

Reporter Josh Siegel with the Examiner reported:

 

While we wait for the Interior Department’s delayed report on how it envisions the future of leasing, Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee are providing a blueprint with their portion of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package released to the public last night.

The committee, which oversees energy production on federal lands, released its reconciliation bill ahead of a markup of the legislation scheduled for Thursday morning.

What’s in the bill: As expected, the sprawling bill contains a suite of provisions long-pursued by the committee’s Democrats led by Chairman Raul Grijalva to raise royalty rates, rental fees, and minimum bid amounts; strengthen bonding requirements on operators — meaning that when a company goes bankrupt, there is more assurance they could foot the bill to reclaim their wells; and assess a new royalty on all extracted methane from oil and gas operations on public lands and waters.

The bill would also end the practice of “uncompetitive leasing” that allows companies to secure leases unsold at auction without paying a bonus bid.

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