For the first time in a century, the US is raising fees for drilling on federal lands
The rules for oil and gas extraction on public lands have been stagnant for decades. Oil and gas companies have paid 12.5 percent in royalties to the federal government for drilling on public lands for more than a century, significantly lower than the rates many Western states charge. Companies must also post bonds, financial instruments that guarantee taxpayers aren’t left holding the bag for environmental cleanup if a driller goes bankrupt. But those bonds were set in 1960 at $ 10,000 per lease, a small fraction of the true cost of plugging and cleaning up oil wells that businesses leave behind.
Good governance groups and environmentalists have long argued that these rules have functioned as a subsidy for fossil fuels, shortchanging taxpayers and encouraging oil and gas extraction at a time when the planet is warming at a dangerous rate. …
