On October 7, 2021, Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) introduced the “Competitive Onshore Mineral Policy via Eliminating Taxpayer-Enabled Speculation Act” or the COMPETES Act to update antiquated Department of the Interior policies that govern oil and gas leasing on federal lands. In response, TCS President Steve Ellis issued the following statement:

“Thank you to Senator Hickenlooper for leading the way to end the egregious practice of noncompetitive oil and gas leasing. We have found that oil and gas companies and other speculators have leased thousands of acres of federal land through this decades old loophole. Interested parties strategically sit out the lease sale and scoop up the land up for next to nothing as soon as the day after the sale. These giveaways deprive state and federal coffers of much needed revenue and tie up our public land from other uses. This has got to stop.”

To learn more about noncompetitive leasing, read our policy brief here.