STATEMENT: Trump Administration Guts Oil and Gas Cleanup Requirements, Puts Taxpayers on the Hook for Billions

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration approved a revision to the onshore oil and gas leasing rule that, among other things, lowers bonding requirements, which stipulate an amount that companies must pay up-front to cover the costs of well cleanup. This move puts the burden back on taxpayers to cover expensive reclamation and cleanup costs. With as many as 3.8 million wells potentially drilled in the coming years, the rollback of bonding requirements could cost taxpayers as much as $753.5 billion.

In response, Jenny Rowland-Shea, senior director of Conservation Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:

Oil and gas companies are once again being exempted from the rules that everyone else has to follow. Gutting these requirements is a deliberate attempt to rig the system in favor of Big Oil. Americans have been paying to clean up the oil and gas industry’s mess for decades, and this move puts taxpayers back on the hook for billions of dollars.

Related resources:

• “The Trump Administration Is Allowing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse To Fester in the Federal Oil and Gas Program” by Sophie Conroy and Jenny Rowland-Shea
• “How the Federal Government Can Hold the Oil and Gas Industry Accountable” by Mariel Lutz and Jenny Rowland-Shea

For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].