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While the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency are recklessly slashing budgets, canceling popular programs, and firing thousands of Americans with the ostensible goal of saving money, Congress is proposing to forego billions of dollars in revenues from oil and gas royalty payments. The House Natural Resources Committee has proposed a provision in its budget reconciliation bill that would reduce the royalty rates for oil and gas produced on national public lands.
An analysis by Resources for the Future has found that, even after accounting for a potential increase in oil and gas production in response to decreased royalty rates, the proposed lower royalty rates would result in a loss of nearly $5 billion in revenue over the next ten years, followed by losses of an average of $2 billion per year thereafter. This loss of revenue would both increase the federal deficit and impact state budgets, since royalty revenues are shared with the state where drilling takes place.
In addition to being fiscally irresponsible, reducing oil and gas royalty rates is unpopular with the public. According to the 2025 Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West poll, only 12 percent of Western voters support decreasing oil and gas royalty rates.
How are the national parks holding up against DOGE and Trump’s attacks?
In the latest episode of the Center for Western Priorities podcast, The Landscape, Kate and Aaron talk to Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor of National Parks Traveler, about President Donald Trump’s proposed funding cuts to the National Park System as well as how staffing cuts imposed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are affecting the Park Service.
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