WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) co-sponsored the Promoting Energy Independence and Transparency Act, legislation introduced last month by Rep. Blake Moore (UT-01) to hold the Biden Administration accountable for their consequential delays in the domestic energy permitting and leasing process.

“President Biden’s anti-energy, job-killing agenda and year-long war on U.S. domestic oil production has caused pain at the pump and increased our dependency on foreign adversaries,” said Rep. Owens. “I am a proud co-sponsor of the Promoting Energy Independence and Transparency Act because it holds this White House accountable, empowers U.S. workers, and unleashes cleaner, lower-cost American energy.”

Despite a statutory requirement to issue permits within 30 days, there are currently over 4,600 permits to drill still pending at the Department of the Interior. The Promoting Energy Independence and Transparency Act will require the issuance of Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) that have completed environmental review.

Specifically, the Protecting Energy Independence and Transparency Act would:

• Require DOI to issue any pending permits that have successfully completed environmental analysis and other required reviews within 30 days of enactment;
• Require DOI to submit a details report to Congress on the status of nominated parcels for future lease sales, the number of APDs that are pending approval, how long these items have been pending, and the reason these items have been delayed; and
• Require DOI to publish the number of pending and approved APDs and expressions of interest for parcel nominations for lease sales.

The full bill text is available here.

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