LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON:

• Discussion Draft H.R. ____, To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to recover the cost of processing administrative protests for oil and gas lease sales, applications for permits to drill, and right of way applications, and for other purposes.
• Discussion Draft H.R. ____ (Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico), To clarify the categorical exclusions authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and authorize additional categorical exclusions to streamline the oil and gas permitting process, and for other purposes.
• Discussion Draft H.R. ____ (Rep. John Curtis of Utah), To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize notifications of permit to drill, and for other purposes.
• Discussion Draft H.R. ____ (Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico), To clarify that Bureau of Land Management shall not require permits for oil and gas activities conducted on non-Federal surface estate to access subsurface mineral estate that is less than 50 percent Federally owned, and for other purposes.

TOPLINE MESSAGES:

• These bills are all part of the Republican agenda to put profits over people, and make things easier for oil and gas companies by keeping regular Americans in the dark about potential oil and gas activity in their communities.
• In addition to keeping Americans unware about drilling in their communities and creating barriers to opposing it, these bills allow oil and gas companies to cause more damage to our public lands, emit more pollution into our air and water, and destroy sensitive wildlife habitat.
• Industry and Republican complaints about oil and gas operations on public lands being restricted under President Obama are unfounded: federal onshore oil production went up 78 percent from 2007 to 2015. At the same time, companies stockpiled 7,950 approved but unused drilling permits as of the end of the Fiscal Year 2016, and currently hold 14.5 million acres of public land under lease that they are not producing oil or gas from.