May 22, 2025

• House-passed bill supported by Western Energy Alliance
• Federal oil and natural gas leasing expected to raise $12 billion
• States will benefit from revenue sharing by the federal government

DENVER – Following passage of the budget reconciliation bill today in the U.S. House of Representatives, Western Energy Alliance applauded several provisions prioritizing oil and natural gas production. Notably, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is expected to raise $12 billion by reinforcing existing laws mandating federal oil and natural gas lease sales be heled each quarter by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). President Biden regularly ignored these requirements, even after signing them into law in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“Across the West certain public lands are set aside for multiple uses through a public process, including for energy production. The parcels are appropriate for oil and natural gas development and coexist with other activities. They’re separate from national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas. Today, the House has again affirmed the 100-year tradition that’s existed in Congress to put these lands to work for the benefit of the country,” said Melissa Simpson, president of the Alliance.

“Unfortunately, the previous administration went out of its way to ignore laws on the books and its own IRA by severely limiting oil and natural gas leasing. This bill will reverse many of those damaging actions while also making leasing, permitting, and environmental analysis more efficient and timely. Western states will especially benefit because they receive nearly half of leasing and production revenues generated under this program. Billions of dollars will once again flow back to the states. We now urge the Senate to take up the bill and pass it quickly,” added Simpson.

Highlights of the House-passed package that advance American oil and natural gas production include:

• Commingling: Enabling commingling of production is one of the quickest ways to increase production onshore. Many projects in the West have been held up for years by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) failure to approve the commingling of federal and nonfederal oil and natural gas in consolidated projects, even though today’s metering equipment enables accurate measurement for royalty calculations. With the bill, producers can consolidate facilities, thereby reducing the number of well pads and impact on the land while still accurately calculating federal royalties.

• Non-Federal Well Permitting: Removing the need for a federal permit for wells on nonfederal lands is perhaps equally important for quickly enabling more production. With two- to three-mile laterals, horizontal wellbores may touch small pockets of federal minerals underground. By reducing the need for a federal permit when only a small amount of federal minerals is traversed, it frees BLM from extra paperwork while still ensuring the American taxpayer receives the revenue. This provision is particularly necessary in North Dakota, where access to the energy that the state and private citizens own is often blocked for years by unnecessary federal process.

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Completing NEPA analysis in a reasonable amount of time by letting companies pay for their NEPA documents. The bill sensibly relieves the government of the cost and time of the analysis, while still enabling government oversight. Removing the ability of unaccountable groups to sue clears one of the largest impediments to getting projects done in a timely manner.

• Protest Fees: Requiring obstructionist groups to pay a fee when they protest leases would finally hold them responsible for a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars of economic activity they stop with their constant protests and litigation. It is appropriate and equitable for these otherwise unaccountable groups to pay for the burden they place on the government and for constantly preventing projects that create jobs and federal revenue.

• Permitting: Making the federal government more efficient, such as by establishing a permit-by-rule system. By enabling the timely approval of routine permits that meet stringent requirements, BLM could spend less time pushing redundant paperwork and more time actively managing the land. Likewise, setting a four-year term for drilling permits eliminates the need for BLM to revisit them after two years, a needless red tape exercise.

• Leasing: Clarifying quarterly lease sales prevents future administrations from issuing a ban on leasing, as President Biden did by unlawful decree as well as by bureaucratic inertia. Reinstating noncompetitive leasing provides a low-cost entry for small companies exploring in areas not considered highly prospective today. Like the Bakken and Permian in the 2000s, today’s low-value, low-potential area could be the next big find. The Permian later experienced a record high lease sale, netting nearly $1 billion in 2018.

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