PRESS STATEMENT: WORC Denounces Provision in Reconciliation Bill Slashing Royalty Rates for Fossil Fuel Companies
PRESS STATEMENT
7/1/2025
Media Contacts
Ted Brewer, WORC communications director, tbrewer@worc.org, 406-461-1427
Today, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation bill, which takes a sledgehammer to key provisions that were passed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, the last time the reconciliation process occurred. The Senate bill would, among many other things, reduce the royalty rates that fossil fuel companies pay to develop public lands and minerals – from 16.67% to 12.5% for oil and gas development and from 12.5% to 7% for coal development, the same rates that companies were paying in the 1920s.
In response, Barbara Vasquez, board chair of the Western Organization of Resource Councils, released the following statement:
“The bill is a ruthless giveaway to the fossil fuel industry at a time when oil and gas companies are already making a killing. Slashing the royalty rates companies pay to develop public lands and minerals all Americans own, the bill will rob taxpayers of a fair return and deprive rural communities of billions in funding we rely on for schools, roads, and other basic infrastructure.”
Background:
- The U.S. is currently the world’s biggest exporter of liquified natural gas and is producing more oil than any other country on Earth, more than we could ever use.
- 93% of new US electricity comes from solar, wind, or batteries, making it clear that the market has left coal far behind.
- 99% of coal plants cost more to run than those running on renewable energy.
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The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) is a network of ten grassroots organizations in eight Western states with 22,750 members, many of them ranchers and farmers committed to common-sense reform in agriculture, oil and gas development, coal mine reclamation, and rural economic development. Headquartered in Billings, Mont., WORC also has an office in Washington, D.C.