In
the News Fact Sheets
"Use It or Lose It" Bill
Feingold-Dodd-Menendez "Use It
or Lose It" Bill
July 16, 2008
As Americans face record high energy and
gas prices, there have been many suggestions from all sides
about how to fix our energy problems. Oil companies and others
are suggesting that we can cure our energy woes by opening
more federal lands for drilling. But what many people don’t
realize is that oil companies in this country already hold
leases on 66 million acres of federal land that they are not
developing. That is why U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI),
Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced
the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act, also known
as “Use It or Lose It” legislation, to spur development on
the lands that are already leased.
Lands Already Available
for Oil Exploration
Oil companies have not pursued exploration
and development of lands already available:
- Oil companies are not producing on over three-quarters
of the federal lands and waters they already have under
lease.
- Over 100 billion barrels of oil are currently available
on federal lands already leased or available for leasing
by oil companies.
- The federal government has increased the number of drilling
permits by 361% from 1999 to 2007 yet oil companies are
not keeping pace. Despite the Bureau of Land Management's
issuance of 28,776 permits to drill on public land in the
last four years, wells have not been drilled for a third
(9,822) - these stockpiled drilling permits provide the
quickest way to increase domestic production.
The Feingold-Dodd-Menendez
“Use It or Lose It” Oil Lease Legislation
The Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease
Act to spur oil companies to develop the federal lands they
are already leasing. The legislation is similar to a bill
that was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep.
Nick Rahall (D-WV). It says that if oil and gas companies
want to lease additional federal lands, they must either be
producing on or diligently developing their existing federal
leases, or they have to give up any leases that are not being
diligently developed. This way, if a company makes the business
decision not to pursue or to terminate exploration, the lease
will be made available to other companies. Most importantly,
the bill ensures that companies take reasonable steps to produce
oil and gas on federal lands and waters within a lease's term.
Energy Independence
While the United States has only two percent of the world’s
oil reserves, we consume over 20 percent of the world’s oil.
In other words, we can’t drill our way to energy independence.
But we can take responsible steps to increase domestic oil
production, as this bill proposes. And, in the long run, we
must make serious investments in biofuels, energy efficiency,
wind power, solar power, and other renewable energies while
also increasing conservation. |
