FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ike Obi
Email: media@taxpayer.net

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2026 — A new analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) finds that below-market royalties have cost state and federal taxpayers $117 million in lost royalty revenue over the last decade. At the same time, if outdated federal financial assurance requirements return—like the Bureau of Land Management has recently proposed to do in a new rule—taxpayers could face approximately $159 million in unrecovered cleanup costs from currently producing wells in Montana.

The taxpayer report, Millions Lost in Montana: How Federal Oil & Gas Leasing Terms Cost Taxpayers, examines a decade of oil and gas production on federal in Montana and documents how outdated federal leasing policies have locked thousands of acres into nonproducing leases, reduced public revenues, and exposed taxpayers to significant financial risks.

Millions Lost in Montana details how the noncompetitive leasing process, which was recently reinstated by Congress, has allowed companies to acquire 846,000 acres of public land in Montana without paying a minimum bid, costing federal and state taxpayers millions in lost bid revenue. Noncompetitive leasing is widely abused by speculators, and leases issued this way are statistically less likely to enter production and generate significantly less revenue than competitively issued leases. Noncompetitive leases account for 75% of all nonproducing acreage currently leased in the state.

This analysis comes on the heels of the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule to roll back bonding requirements, limit public participation in auction decisions, and codify noncompetitive leasing, among other changes. It also comes in advance of the agency’s upcoming lease sale, which will offer more than 1,796 acres of public land in Montana for oil and gas development on July 14. Any unleased land will be available for noncompetitive leasing the very next day. Between 2016 and 2025, the federal government offered nearly half a million acres of public land for oil and gas development at public auctions, yet only 42% of that was leased. Even less entered production, delivering little return to taxpayers and potentially foreclosing alternative land uses.

“Federal oil and gas resources belong to the American people, and leasing terms should ensure taxpayers receive a fair return from their development,” said Autumn Hanna, Vice President of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Today’s oil and gas leasing policies benefit industry, not taxpayers or consumers. They offer no meaningful short-term benefit while creating substantial long-term costs. This is increasingly clear in Montana, a state with 800,000 acres of valuable federal land locked into nonproducing leases and 600,000 acres leased under sweetheart terms.”

Taxpayers for Common Sense is an independent, nonpartisan budget watchdog serving the American taxpayer since 1995. Learn more at www.taxpayer.net.

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