Montana’s hunters and anglers call for common-sense reforms to oil and gas leasing to protect taxpayers and ensure treasured lands for hunting and fishing are protected.
Helena – Today, following the recent release of the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) new leasing report, Montana Wildlife Federation released a new ad calling for action to reform the federal oil and gas leasing program. The spot will run in the Billings and Great Falls media markets.
Montanan’s have been calling for reforms to the leasing system for decades, and this report concludes that reforms are necessary to ensure that public resources are being managed in the public interest. Federal rules for oil and gas leasing and permitting on federal public lands have not been substantially updated in over a century. Outdated rules have left Montana’s taxpayers far short from receiving a fair deal for resources mined in the state, encouraged speculative leasing, threatened the state’s outdoor recreation industry – which contributes $2.2 billion to Montana’s economy annually, inadequately ensured that wells are appropriately decommissioned and remediated, and put the state’s wildlife, lands and waters at risk.
“The Department of the Interior’s report confirms that the federal oil and gas program has been broken for decades—benefitting oil and gas CEOs, shortchanging taxpayers, and harming our public lands, wildlife, water, and communities,” said Frank Szollosi, Executive Director of MWF. “In Montana, our iconic public lands and wildlife are what bring people to the state, but this has all been threatened by the outdated federal oil and gas program that prioritizes oil and gas development over all other uses. Our local outdoor recreation economies, wildlife, and climate are depending on common-sense oil and gas reforms.”
The Department of Interior report of the current federal government’s standards for leasing mineral resources on public lands proposes common-sense reforms to ensure Montana’s taxpayers are receiving a fair return, that public resources are being managed in the public interest, and that appropriate protections are in place to preserve Montana’s lands and wildlife for all to access and enjoy.
