US Edition
Energy Dominance Harms Our Public Lands
- In May 2025, the federal government advanced a House bill aimed at speeding up the extraction and production of oil, natural gas, coal, and minerals on public lands throughout the United States.
- This legislation follows rollbacks of prior bipartisan reforms aimed at addressing environmental and economic harms caused by abandoned and unplugged wells leaking toxins.
- The bill reduces environmental review timelines drastically, cuts public comment periods, and lowers oil and gas royalty rates from 16.67% to 12.5%, while allowing corporations to evade permitting on millions of acres with federal minerals.
- A study by Resources for the Future projects that reducing royalty rates will lead to a revenue shortfall approaching $5 billion over the coming ten years, which will negatively impact state and local budgets for education and public services.
- These policies diminish public input, risk environmental damage from uncapped wells, and prompt calls for the Senate to remove benefits favoring the fossil fuel industry to better protect public lands and communities.
15 Articles
15 Articles
WRITERS ON THE RANGE: Energy dominance harms our public lands
I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not only are they an ugly sight, they are also just a few of the estimated 2.6 million unplugged wells across…
Column: Energy dominance harms our public lands
I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not only are they an ugly sight, they are also just a few of the estimated 2.6 million unplugged wells across the country that leak methane, benzene and other toxic substances. The reality is that long after I’m gone, most or all of those wells will remain unplugged. The companies and people who once owned them will have been …
The Fort Morgan Times
Writers on the Range: Energy dominance harms our public lands
I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not only are they an ugly sight, they are also just a few of the estimated 2.6 million unplugged wells across the country that leak methane, benzene and other toxic substances. The reality is that long after I’m gone, most or all of those wells will remain unplugged. The companies and people who once owned them will have been …
Public Lands Welfare Ranchers Again Subsidized By Taxpayers
Livestock are grazed on all federal lands, including national parks and wildlife refuges. Still, most livestock grazing occurs on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service. Even specially protected landscapes that are supposed to be managed for natural conditions, like designated Wilderness areas, are grazed by domestic animals. […]
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