Skip to Content

Press Release

Biden Administration Announces Onshore Lease Sales, Raises Royalty Rate

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 15, 2022 | Committee Press Office (202-225-2761)

Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that the Bureau of Land Management will post notices for lease sales, including approximately 173 parcels of public land, on Monday, April 18. House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) issued the following statement in response:

"Clearly the Biden administration is embarrassed about this decision because they’re announcing it with zero warning late in the day on Good Friday. It’s something they should’ve done more than a year ago; in fact, President Biden should never have made the incredibly irresponsible decision to halt onshore lease sales in the first place. Now with gas prices skyrocketing, the administration is finally coming to their senses and realizing that American energy must be our future. It’s ridiculous that they continue giving American industries and workers whiplash and preventing much-needed energy revenues from stimulating the economy. Not only that, but they're also proudly proclaiming it's an 80 percent reduction from the total acreage nominated and arbitrarily raising the royalty rate 150 percent, which will ultimately increase costs for American consumers. I’m glad to see President Biden finally listening to what my Republican colleagues and I have been saying for months, but a partial reopening is not enough. The administration must immediately increase the offering and reopen offshore development as well. It's the only way we can permanently secure American energy independence."

Background

Today's announcement indicating upcoming lease sales is exclusively for onshore leasing, not offshore leasing, ignoring a major source of American oil and gas development. Further, while 646 parcels on more than 700,000 acres of nominated land were analyzed, only about 173 parcels on roughly 144,000 acres will be offered for sale – which DOI's statement proudly acknowledges as an 80 percent reduction from the acreage originally nominated. In their release, DOI cited the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions as a major factor in their analysis, despite the ongoing economic crisis.

To make matters worse, DOI has chosen to raise the royalty rate on these parcels from 12.5 percent to18.75 percent, increasing costs to consumers. Given the current price at the pump, this is exactly the opposite of what our country needs right now.

Congressional Republicans have long called for the Biden administration to harness American energy in order to help consumers at the pump and have take legislative action, including:

  • The American Energy Independence from Russia Act, introduced by U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash) and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.),immediately approves the Keystone XL pipeline, unleashes U.S. LNG exports to boost natural gas production, restarts oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters and protects energy and mineral development from attacks by the Biden administration.
  • H.R. 4334, the American Energy First Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.),reforms the onshore and offshore energy leasing and permitting processes for conventional and renewable energy development to reduce uncertainty, avoid unnecessary delays and prevent large unilateral land grabs by the Biden administration.
  • The Unleashing American Energy Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.), requires a minimum of two oil and gas lease sales to be held annually in available federal waters in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, and in the Alaska Region of the Outer Continental Shelf.
  • The Securing American Energy and Investing in Resiliency Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), requires the Department of the Interior to conduct all remaining offshore oil and gas lease sales in the current leasing plan and issue leases won as a result of Lease Sale 257.
  • The Energy Permitting Certainty Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.), requires the Department of the Interior to process Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) under a valid existing lease regardless of any unrelated civil action.
  • The Promoting Energy Independence and Transparency Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah),requires any pending permits for which required views have been completed be issued within 30 days of enactment.
  • The Restore Onshore Energy Production Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), immediately resumes oil and gas lease sales on eligible federal lands and requires a minimum of four leases sales per year in each state with an oil and gas program.
  • The Strategy to Secure Offshore Energy Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), requires the publications of the 2022-2027 plan for offshore oil and gas lease sales by the time the current plan expires on June 30, 2022.