Denver — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) led their Democratic colleagues to oppose the recent rescission of two key Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas rules on leasing and waste prevention. Their rollback will harm public lands, reduce community input, increase pollution, and raise taxpayer costs.
In the first letter, the lawmakers denounce the BLM’s proposal to rescind the 2024 Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule (the 2024 Onshore Leasing Rule).
The 2024 Onshore Leasing Rule ensured that the concerns of states, Tribes, and local communities were included in decision-making and was a long-overdue correction to decades of BLM policies that favored oil and gas development over other uses and led to tens of thousands of dangerous abandoned wells that became the financial responsibility of taxpayers instead of the oil and gas companies. This rule had immense public support and established a balanced framework that saved taxpayer money, ensured multi-use management of public lands, and protected cultural resources and rural communities that depend on public lands. In this letter, the lawmakers ask that the administration specifically reconsider oil and gas bonding requirements; public participation, Tribal consultation, and landowner involvement; and leasing preference criteria.
“[…] BLM’s newly proposed rule threatens to dismantle this common-sense progress. We are deeply concerned that the proposed changes shift cleanup liabilities back to the public, restrict community and private landowner participation, and distort the balance required to manage America’s public lands responsibly,” wrote the lawmakers.
In addition to Bennet and Huffman, Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), as well as Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IlI.), Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Dave Min (D-Calif.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) signed this letter.
In the second letter, the lawmakers outline their strong opposition to BLM’s proposal to overturn the 2024 Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation rule (the 2024 Waste Prevention Rule). The BLM’s reversal of this commonsense rule will increase pollution on public lands, reduce domestic energy supply, expose nearby communities to avoidable health risks, and waste publicly owned natural gas, costing Americans tens of millions in foregone revenue.
“We strongly urge BLM to reject this proposed rescission and maintain the 2024 Waste Prevention rule. The oil and gas resources on these lands belong to the American public and Tribal nations, and they deserve to benefit from the full value and benefits of responsible resource stewardship,” wrote the lawmakers.
In addition to Bennet and Huffman, Senators Luján, Angus King (I-Maine), Whitehouse, Hickenlooper, Wyden, Heinrich, Markey, Booker, and Merkley as well as Representatives Ansari, Bonamici, Brownley, Carbajal, Sean Casten (D-IlI.), Cohen, Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), DeGette, Dexter, Dingell, Grijalva, Hoyle, Jacobs, Krishnamoorthi, Magaziner, McCollum, Min, Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Neguse, Pallone, Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Randall, Scanlon, Simon, and Vargas signed the letter.
Bennet has championed reforms to make oil and gas development on federal lands safer, more fiscally responsible, and responsive to the American people. In November 2025, Bennet, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, and Luján urged U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Bureau of Land Management Acting Director Bill Groffy to maintain the federal oil and gas bonding requirements in the 2024 Onshore Leasing Rule. In April 2024, Bennet welcomed the BLM’s final Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing rule. The rule followed years of Bennet’s advocacy, including in December 2022 and July 2023. The Onshore Leasing Rule included reforms Bennet proposed in his PEOPLE Act to restore the role of the public, county commissioners, and other local elected leaders in shaping decisions about public land management and lease sales, and in his Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act. Bennet successfully advocated for $4.7 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to plug and remediate orphan oil wells, including $25 million for Colorado.
Bennet has also encouraged the federal government to follow Colorado’s lead as the first state to regulate methane. In March 2024, Bennet applauded the BLM’s final Waste Prevention Rule, which came following his urging. In December 2023, Bennet applauded a final rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane. In February 2023, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined Senate colleagues to urge the EPA to use data from innovative monitoring technologies like satellite imaging and tighten restrictions on routine flaring to strengthen methane emission standards. In June 2023, Bennet joined colleagues in pushing the EPA to strengthen its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas production and to swiftly implement key provisions of the Methane Emission Reduction Program.
The text of the letter opposing the rescission of the 2024 Onshore Leasing Rule is available HERE. The text of the letter opposing the rescission of the 2024 Waste Prevention Rule is available HERE.
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