Congress Passes Big Beautiful Bill Which Provides Handouts To The Fossil Fuel Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 3, 2025

CONTACT: Russell Kuhlman, Executive Director, Nevada Wildlife Federation: Kuhlman@nvwf.org

Congress Passes Big Beautiful Bill Which Provides Handouts To The Fossil Fuel Industry

NEVADA- Congress just passed H.R. 1, commonly referred to as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill. Included in the bill was a rollback of many oil and gas leasing reforms that were passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill reduces the royalty rate – the source of 98% of all revenue from drilling on public lands – to where it was originally set in 1920 and to half of what the states of New Mexico and Texas collect from drilling on state lands. Since 1920,  the onshore royalty rate has been set at 12.5%, costing taxpayers, particularly in Western states, billions in revenue. Congress finally increased the onshore royalty rate to 16.67% in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, which raised additional funds for public safety and schools across the West. According to the latest polling of Nevadans, nearly three-in-four Nevadans say we should keep the fees that oil and gas companies pay to lease and develop publicly owned resources at their current levels.

“Yet again, decision makers in Washington D.C. are tone deaf to what Westerners would like to see on our public lands. First, it was a fight to keep public lands from being sold and preventing the revenue generated to be deposited into the U.S. Treasury instead of being reinvested back into public land management. Now it is a fight to prevent the fossil fuel industry from having free reign to our lands so they can give their investors a healthy dividend,” said Russell Kuhlman, executive director of the Nevada Wildlife Federation. “As Nevada’s habitat and wildlife continues to decline across our state, the current administration seems willing to bend over backwards to help industry profit from our public lands before they prioritize providing clean air, water and access for all public land users.

About Nevada Wildlife Federation: The Nevada Wildlife Federation is an affiliate of National Wildlife Federation and the oldest statewide conservation organization dedicated to sustaining Nevada’s wildlife through conservation and education.

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