WASHINGTON, DC – Ahead of the MAGA majority-led House Committee on Natural Resources’ oversight hearing, Accountable.US released the following statement, contextualizing the partisan attacks that MAGA members will launch against Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and President Biden’s popular conservation initiatives.

The House MAGA majority is doing Big Oil’s dirty work under the guise of ‘oversight.' With $47 million from the oil and gas industry in their pockets, they plan to use this hearing to advocate for Big Oil priorities and attack popular conservation initiatives that protect America’s lands. Instead of wasting time on Fox News-ready political theater, they should side with the American people and give conservation a seat at the table.”

Jordan Schreiber, Director of Energy and Environment at Accountable.US

8 facts to know ahead of HNRC oversight hearing:

  • Onshore oil and gas production on public lands is up under the Biden administration. The US produced more oil in 2022 from federal onshore sites than any time in the past decade.
  • 90% of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management is open for drilling. 
  • Over half of the 26 million acres of federal land currently under oil and gas leasing is sitting unused.
  • The Biden Administration approved more permits to drill on public lands in two years than the Trump Administration approved during an entire administration.
  • The oil and gas industry has given $46,995,088 to Republicans currently in the U.S. House of Representatives since the start of their careers. 
  • The MAGA majority has no serious policy proposals in this area: GOP Rep. Andy Biggs introduced literally hundreds of bills that would clawback critical funding to improve permitting and hamper public lands management, including mitigating wildfires.
  • Big Oil is thriving and in no need of more government giveaways. 27 of the largest oil companies reported a record-breaking $451 billion in profit after price-gouging consumers for the better part of 2022.

These same big oil corporations are rewarding shareholders with $163 billion in dividends and stock buybacks while sitting on thousands of approved federal drilling permits.

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