Oil and gas companies operating on federal lands have reported the loss of 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas – with an estimated value of $949 million – in just the past ten years. A new report by Taxpayers for Common Sense documents how wasted natural gas, the largest component of which is the highly potent greenhouse methane gas, continues to be leaked, vented, and flared from oil and gas operations on federal land. 

“These operators are wasting a valuable resource— with immediate costs to taxpayers and consumers, while at the same time burdening future generations with massive, cumulative cleanup costs of this highly potent greenhouse gas,” said Autumn Hanna, the group’s vice president. 

The new report from Taxpayers for Common Sense, “Gas Giveaways II,” illustrates how common venting and flaring practices in the oil and gas industry have contributed to billions of cubic feet of potent methane gas released into the atmosphere. The true volume of lost gas is likely much higher than reported by industry, as government estimates are based on self-reported data from drilling operators. 

“Taxpayers have not only lost millions of dollars in potential royalty revenues, but also are saddled with the mounting costs of climate change, a process magnified by the continued release of methane into the atmosphere,” continued Hanna. 

Much of the gas lost on federal lands can be avoided with proper incentives to operators; 82% of gas lost by drilling operators during the past decade was flared, mostly at oil wells. Operators choose to flare or burn off gas that comes to the surface with oil because there is no incentive to capture it. 

“The Bureau of Land Management has clear authority and, indeed, a statutory obligation, to prevent the massive waste of taxpayer-owned natural gas. In any new rule to limit gas waste, BLM must clarify that operators need to plan to capture any gas that escapes during oil production, among other prudent measures. Without a new rulemaking, taxpayers will continue to bear the costs –and impacts– of oil and gas producers’ wasteful practices, both now through the loss of valuable, taxpayer owned resources and in the future through the climate liabilities created by methane emissions,” said Hanna. 

The TCS report comes in the wake of high second quarter profit reports from the top four international oil and gas companies, which adds to the overwhelming evidence that the oil and gas industry is booming while American consumers continue to suffer from unstable gas prices. The four major oil and gas companies reported $46.6 billion in profits this quarter, 200 percent more than they brought in over the same period last year. Yet federal taxpayers will spend an estimated $6.7 billion on lavish subsidies to oil and gas companies this year alone, including the outdated oil and gas leasing system. 

“The bottom line is that this is just one more subsidy to the highly profitable oil and gas industry. It is time to protect taxpayers and end the giveaways,” concluded Hanna. 

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Editor’s note: Taxpayers for Common Sense is a nonpartisan budget watchdog that has served as an independent voice for the American taxpayer since 1995. It works to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and that government operates within its means. This report is the latest in a series of reports TCS has conducted on methane waste since 2014.