In response to the finalized oil and gas leasing rule released by the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Evergreen Action Senior Policy Lead for Energy Transition Mattea Mrkusic released the following statement:

“For decades, Big Oil has been exploiting our public lands for oil and gas drilling and sticking all of us with the bill. They make record profits at the expense of frontline communities, biodiversity, taxpayers, and our climate. The reforms finalized today will help ensure that corporate polluters are on the hook to clean up their mess, with their own money. 

“This new rule finalizes long-overdue fiscal reforms to the federal oil and gas program—formalizing the common-sense changes made as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This rule will help staunch the practice of oil and gas companies abusing public lands for pennies on the dollar. Let’s be real: We need to get these oil companies off our public lands. But for now, we’re glad they won’t get to stiff the public while they keep using public resources. We look forward to working with BLM on further action to directly address the climate impacts of oil and gas drilling on federal lands in the future.”