The incoming Trump Administration has made plain that renewable energy is out, and fossil fuels are in.
It intends to aggressively develop gas and oil while phasing out the $700 billion in green energy subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (whose savings will help fund federal tax cuts).
Presidents affect drilling at the margins by approving pipeline projects and making more federal land available for exploration, both of which can take years for realization. The real impact on production comes from supply and demand signals interpreted by oil and gas companies.
Still, an administration friendly to fossil fuel production is surely good news for the 42 hydrocarbon producing Native nations.
Indian country is a target-rich venue for drilling proponents. Energy and mineral resources generated $1.6 billion in royalty revenue paid to Indian individuals and tribes in 2022 alone (latest data available). It is estimated that an additional 15 million acres of undeveloped energy and mineral resources may exist on individual Indian and tribal lands. This makes energy and minerals second only to gaming in revenue and wealth generation for tribes. By comparison, forestry and grazing only generated $50 million and $30 million, respectively.
But before drilling can begin, there must be a meeting of the minds between gas and oil companies and fossil fuel tribes. Congress has long recognized that with rare exceptions these negotiations do not take place on a level playing field. The companies are equipped with experts while the tribes are not.
So, Congress enacted several statutes requiring the Secretary of the Interior to furnish expert advice on the tribes’ behalf during drilling negotiations. And for more than two decades, the Department’s Division of Energy and Mineral Development (DEMD) capably fulfilled this critical, trusteeship role.
Then, starting in 2023, the Biden Administration inexplicably laid off or lost over 50 of the Division of Energy and Mineral Development’s DEMD’s 65 contractors and six of its 13 Federal employees.
Before the Trump Administration can “drill, baby, drill,” in Indian Country, these skilled contractors, and employees, who include petroleum engineers, geologists, and seismic specialists, must be brought back.
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