By Ben Geman
University of Chicago experts say the Interior Department has several ways to make the currently frozen program for oil-and-gas leasing on federal lands a better deal for taxpayers and the environment.
Driving the news: Those charts above show some of the ways that the Interior’s onshore leases are offered on more generous terms than tracts on state lands in several major oil-and-gas producing states.
They come via the leasing chapter of U.S. Energy & Climate Roadmap, a wide-ranging new policy book from the school’s Energy Policy Institute.
What they’re saying: The book’s various recommendations include increasing royalty rates; shortening lease terms; and stronger bonding requirements on the industry to cover environmental reclamation costs.