Oil and Gas Inspection—Overworked and Understaffed

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced yesterday that the Trump administration will open more than 13 million acres of national public land to coal leasing, while also lowering the royalty rate that mining companies pay to taxpayers from twelve to seven percent. During his press conference, Burgum cited an AI “arms race” with China as […]

A Colorado rule requires oil and gas companies to submit financial plans for how they’ll pay for plugging and cleaning up oil and gas wells at the end of their productivity. This rule is intended to provide assurance that wells won’t be orphaned and left as public health hazards, but an analysis shows that some plans won’t cover […]

In the weeks since President Biden announced a temporary pause on oil and gas leasing on national public lands, groups that represent the oil industry, like the Western Energy Alliance and American Petroleum Institute, have gone full Chicken Little, claiming the pause will cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue to states. API is spending […]

“These plans show that a handshake doesn’t mean anything to David Bernhardt unless it’s with an oil and gas executive. At Bernhardt’s direction, the Interior Department is breaking a landmark deal that was brokered by Western governors, ranchers, and conservationists—all to allow more drilling and mining.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Colorado office is backpedaling this week after a series of controversial leasing decisions left the agency in hot water with hunters and anglers, farmers and ranchers, former National Park Service employees, municipalities, water providers, and community groups. State offices of the BLM are responsible for overseeing the leasing of public […]