WASHINGTON (June 13, 2007) – The “Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act of 2007” (H.R. 2337) today passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 26-22.  The bill contains important reforms to the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas program, which has facilitated an unprecedented oil and gas drilling boom across the Rocky Mountain West, as well as several other significant measures to begin to restore a more balanced and sustainable energy policy and address climate change impacts.

“We are grateful to Chairman Rahall for his leadership on this legislation,” said William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. “This bill is an important step toward restoring a balance between oil and gas development and protection of other key resources of our western public lands. The Committee on Natural Resources clearly heard the voices of Westerners who know it is possible to make oil and gas available to the American people while protecting the last remaining wild places in the American West, the wildlife that inhabit these lands, the quality of the West’s air and water, and the property rights of ranchers and farmers. In addition, the Committee has done innovative work to encourage biofuels development, carbon sequestration, and planning to address the impacts of climate change on our most special landscapes and wildlife habitat.”

H.R. 2337 reforms many of the ill-conceived provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) that currently provide unwarranted subsidies by taxpayers and other special treatment to the oil and gas industry. The bill requires the Interior Department to establish cost recovery fees on energy development of federal oil and gas resources to pay for the enormous and growing administrative costs associated with opening federal lands to oil and gas development, repeal the arbitrary deadlines for drilling permit approvals imposed by the EPACT, strengthen the use of best management practices in the development of federal oil and gas leases, provide for better fiscal accountability in the management of federal oil and gas resources, and repeal the mandatory and unmerited “categorical exclusions” from environmental reviews for numerous oil and gas activities on public lands.  It also prohibits the mandatory designation of inappropriate energy corridors required in the EPACT, prevents the development of energy corridors in ecologically sensitive areas and in areas that have been protected for their scenic, natural, cultural, or historic resources, and provides a more rational and careful framework for the potential development of publicly-owned oil shale resources. The bill also directs the Interior Secretary, in consultation with other federal agencies, states, and the public, to establish a national strategy for assisting wildlife populations impacted by global warming, including consideration and integration of adaptation strategies in the planning and management of federal lands.

“Chairman Rahall’s Energy Bill is the sort of forward-thinking approach that is needed if we are to protect our natural resources while setting America on the path toward energy independence,” said Meadows. “This bill will increase accountability in the management of federal energy resources, spur alternative energy sources, and provide the support necessary to help mitigate global warming’s impact on wildlife.”