Unleashing American Energy: Prioritizing Development on Federal Lands

The swearing-in of the new 119th Congress early this month and the inauguration of President Donald Trump for a second term presents a genuine opportunity to improve our nation’s energy landscape. The November elections will be studied for years, but one major takeaway has become crystallized: that 2024 was the Energy Election. Underscoring this shift, the president signed a series of executive orders aimed at accelerating domestic energy production, reducing regulatory barriers, and reinforcing America’s energy security. One of the important initial executive orders includes the reopening of federal lands for oil and gas production. These measures, combined with the new Congress’s energy-focused agenda, could create the framework for responsible domestic energy for years to come.  

Prioritizing Development on Federal Lands  

In addition to modernizing our broken permitting system, expanding US LNG exports, fixing harmful methane regulations, and ensuring competitive tax policies, AXPC is encouraging the new administration to re-open oil and gas leasing on federal land. Unfortunately, the previous administration worked to limit investment and development through burdensome regulations and by blocking taxpayer-owned energy resources. One of the worst examples was the Public Lands Rule issued by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Also called the BLM Conservation Rule, the regulation restricts productive uses Congress expressly permitted in multiple laws written during the previous century. BLM oversees some 245 million acres – land set aside for recreation, grazing, mining, and oil and gas production, yet the rule expands BLM’s authority to rewrite, through regulation, activities Congress directed and prioritized. In the name of radical, misplaced priorities, the rule frustrates the very activities that often fund nearby communities and conservation partnerships. 

Bad Policies Yielded Record Low Leases 

Development on federal lands and waters provides enormous value for the nation, providing about 25% of America’s oil and natural gas. But this development cannot happen without a steady stream of leases. Despite growing global demand, the previous administration issued significantly fewer federal onshore oil and gas leases than were issued by past administrations of both parties, at times even deferring or cancelling lease sales in defiance of Congressional mandates. In 2023, the previous administration announced leases of only 161,000 acres of federal land. For context, the Obama administration averaged 1.35 million acres per year, and Trump’s first term averaged 1.27 million acres per year. 

Onshore federal oil and gas leasing slowed to a near standstill under the previous administration. AXPC is encouraging the incoming Trump administration to uphold statutory requirements to lease more federal acreage for energy development. Production on federal lands can take years and is subject to significant delays and activist litigation. New leases are needed to meet demand now and for generations to come.  

Globally Significant Production on a Small Footprint 

Less than 4% of the 657 million federally owned acres are leased to oil and gas companies. Yet this tiny fraction of public land provides the margins that have made America the biggest natural gas producer and the biggest oil producer ever! In 2023, 16 million of the 24 million federal acres leased for production were actively producing; the remaining leases are going through a complex regulatory process. The graphic below shows the relatively small footprint of onshore production that contributes an outsized role in global energy markets. 

Critical for Energy Security 

Federal onshore production of oil and gas is critical to America’s energy security.  While most development takes place on state or private lands, the amount produced on federal land is significant. The US produces more just on federal lands than many countries known as petroleum powerhouses. 

In fact, if our federal lands were a “country” they would be the 14th largest oil producer and the 18th largest natural gas producer. We produce more oil on federal lands than Algeria, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Libya. And we produce more natural gas on federal lands than the UK, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Oman. 

Unleash American Oil & Gas Workers 

In addition to ramping up leasing on federal lands, which the incoming administration has indicated it will do, Congress should implement durable reforms that mandate specific, periodic lease sales of available lands for responsible oil and natural gas development. This will prevent future administrations from avoiding what should be a clear statutory obligation to leverage our federal resources. While reforms to the leasing process are critical, so too are reforms for the permitting process on federal lands. Our permitting system for energy infrastructure generally is broken. Specifically for federal lands, even where leases are granted, the review and approval of permits to start producing has become bogged down in delays, inefficiencies, and bureaucratic red tape. Congress should establish a predictable permitting process, with environmental safeguards, that would unleash energy production and job creation, allowing the hardworking men and women of America’s oil and gas industry to do what they do best: provide a solid foundation industry and American prosperity. 

Acting on a Clear Message from the People 

From coast to coast, candidates who signaled their preference for more American energy production were elected to serve in key posts throughout the halls of power in Washington. President Trump’s call to develop America’s “liquid gold” will be echoed in the House and the Senate, further proof the public’s interest in more American oil and gas production is not limited to party or geography – that it is clearly in the national interest. When America is the world leader in energy production, the environment is cleaner, the world is safer, and our economy is stronger. One of the surest ways to achieve these goals is to re-open federal land for developing our abundance. 

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