Washington, D.C. (June 12, 2024) — The National Wildlife Federation and affiliates urged U.S. Senate leaders to strongly support the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas rule that benefits wildlife and American taxpayers by requiring oil and gas companies to pay their fair share to develop on public lands and to clean up their drilling sites when they are done. 

In a letter, the conservation organizations urged senators to oppose usage of the Congressional Review Act to overturn the rule: “We strongly support the Rule and urge you to not only oppose efforts to prevent its finalization, but to support its implementation. By supporting the BLM’s implementation of the Rule, you will help ensure a fair return for oil and gas produced on public lands, reduce the likelihood that American taxpayers will be responsible for covering the cost of clean-up, and avoid the potential impacts of oil and gas development on wildlife, hunting, fishing, grazing, agriculture, and restoration on public lands consistent with BLM’s multiple-use mandate.”

In addition to the official letter to senate leaders, more than 10,000 National Wildlife Federation members and supporters wrote to their senators asking them to oppose attempts to overturn the common-sense oil and gas rule, calling such an effort “a grave mistake that would once again leave American taxpayers on the hook to clean up the messes that oil and gas companies leave behind.”