House Energy Reconciliation Bill Would Increase Costs For Oil, Gas Exploration
The $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill being written by U.S. House and Senate Democrats would significantly impact energy and environmental policy.
The legislation approved by the House Natural Resources Committee would:
- Repeal a requirement to sell leases for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). (As Connecting the Dots previously, the Biden administration already has launched an environmental review of the Trump administration’s decision to open ANWR to drilling.)
- Ban offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and in the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico.
- Raise royalties for fossil fuel companies to drill on federal lands and in federal water and extend royalties to methane emissions.
- Create a royalty payment for hard rock mining.
- End noncompetitive leasing and charge annual fees for extraction of public resources.
- Charge fees on offshore pipelines and idled oil and gas wells.
- Eliminate royalty relief and requiring companies pay for annual inspection costs.