Federal taxpayers own vast amounts of land across the United States and the resources contained within them. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), under the Department of the Interior (DOI), oversees one in every 10 acres of land in the United States (245 million acres) and approximately 30% of the nation’s minerals (700 million acres).

The federal government is mandated to protect the value of these resources and ensure taxpayers a fair return for their use, but current federal policies fail to achieve this goal. Outdated leasing terms, including the onshore royalty rate and rental rate, have lost taxpayers $838 million in Colorado over the last decade. Insufficient oil and gas bond requirements, which are meant to ensure the cost to clean up and plug wells on federal lands are paid for by operators, have instead left taxpayers with $371 million in potential reclamation liabilities in the state. Without reform, federal and Colorado taxpayers will continue to lose valuable revenue and shoulder the mounting liabilities from orphaned oil and gas wells. 

Click here to download the report or read the report below.