In response to the Department of Interior’s proposed rule to reform the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released the following statement from Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick:

“We applaud the Department of Interior for taking these steps to reform a very outdated oil and gas leasing system that has allowed the oil and gas industry to profit off of our public lands at the expense of communities. These reforms preserve the long overdue increase in royalties that was included in the historic Inflation Reduction Act and update bonding requirements to ensure that oil and gas companies –not taxpayers– will be responsible for the cost of clean-up. We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden-Harris administration to build on these reforms and make public lands an even bigger part of the climate solution.”

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