H. Res. 987 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

March 21, 2024. 

Whereas President Joe Biden and his administration have 

proposed and finalized regulations that increase the cost 

of energy for domestic consumers, hamper domestic production of energy, and increase reliance on foreign adversaries for energy needs; 

Whereas then-candidate Joe Biden is quoted as saying, ‘‘I 

will end fossil fuels.’’; 

Whereas decreasing domestic production of fossil fuels does 

not prevent the fuels from being produced globally, but 

instead increases the United States reliance on other 

countries for its energy needs; 

Whereas the United States is reliant on China and other foreign adversaries for many of the minerals necessary for 

renewable energy development; 

Whereas the Biden administration has blocked domestic mineral development despite the massive increase in demand 

for these minerals; 

Whereas the United States became the global leader in 

liquified natural gas exports for the first time in 2023; 

Whereas, on January 26, 2024, the Biden administration announced guidance that would prohibit liquified natural 
2 

•HRES 987 EH 

gas exports and permitting for export facilities under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b); 

Whereas, under President Biden, gasoline prices reached a 

record-breaking high in 2022, with prices soaring to a 

nationwide average of over $4 a gallon and nearly $5 for 

diesel; 

Whereas gas prices have increased due to President Biden’s 

policies, affecting families and small businesses who 

struggle to make ends meet; 

Whereas, in May 2023, it was calculated that nearly 

20,000,000 households in the United States were behind 

on their utility bills because of rising energy prices; 

Whereas energy prices increased roughly 37.2 percent in 

President Biden’s first 26 months in office, which is the 

largest increase of any of the last 7 Presidents; 

Whereas President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline 

on his first day in office, preventing over 11,000 jobs, 

hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day, and millions in revenue; 

Whereas the Biden administration illegally canceled leases in 

the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even though the 

leases were mandated under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; 

Whereas the Biden administration added extraction restrictions to 13,000,000 acres of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska; 

Whereas the Biden administration canceled 3 proposed lease 

sales in the Gulf of Mexico; 

Whereas President Trump held 9 offshore lease sales and 

President Obama held 20; 
3 

•HRES 987 EH 

Whereas the Biden administration has proposed numerous 

antifossil fuel policies that restrict Federal land development causing companies to cease investment in research, 

development, and exploration; 

Whereas the Biden administration implemented a 20-year 

mining moratorium on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota; 

Whereas the Biden administration continues to restrict mineral extraction in areas including Chaco Canyon, Black 

Hills National Forest, and the Thompson Divide; 

Whereas, in 2022, more than one-third of Americans say they 

reduced or skipped basic expenses, such as medicine or 

food, to pay an energy bill; 

Whereas President Biden issued Executive Order 14008 on 

his first day in office, which halted all new oil and natural gas leasing on Federal lands, violating the Mineral 

Leasing Act, which requires the Department of the Interior to hold quarterly lease sales; 

Whereas the Biden administration did not hold an onshore 

lease sale until June 2022, and the first sale excluded 

nearly 80 percent of eligible lands while instituting a 50- 

percent royalty increase; 

Whereas, in fiscal year 2022, the first full fiscal year of the 

Biden administration, the Bureau of Land Management 

approved an average of 233 drilling permits per month; 

Whereas, in contrast, the Bureau of Land Management was 

approving nearly 400 drilling permits monthly in fiscal 

year 2020; 

Whereas the Biden administration has held only 18 lease 

sales over 36 months in office; 
4 

•HRES 987 EH 

Whereas the Biden administration has leased roughly 

232,000 acres bringing in roughly $180,000,000 in Federal funding, approximately one-tenth of the acreage and 

revenue secured by the Trump administration; 

Whereas, over the same time period, the Trump administration had held 82 lease sales, leasing 3,700,000 acres and 

bringing in over $1,700,000,000 for taxpayers. 

Whereas the Bureau of Land Management proposed a rule 

titled ‘‘Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation’’ (87 Fed. Reg. 73588) 

which aims to further regulate natural gas emissions 

from oil and natural gas production on Federal lands; 

Whereas the Bureau of Land Management issued Instructional Memoranda that restrict the rights of existing 

leaseholders, ignore statutory mandates, and will limit 

acreage in future sales; 

Whereas the Biden administration proposed the rule titled 

‘‘Conservation and Landscape Health’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 

19583) that would illegally elevate conservation as a multiple use under the Federal Land Management Policy Act 

of 1976; 

Whereas the Biden administration has proposed a rule titled 

‘‘Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process’’ (88. Fed. 

Reg. 47562) that would establish preference criteria to 

limit oil and gas leasing on Federal lands, while increasing royalty and bonding rates for oil and gas producers 

on Federal lands; and 

Whereas the Biden administration proposed numerous supplemental environmental impact statements for resource 

management plans across Western States that would lock 
5 

•HRES 987 EH 

up millions of acres of Federal lands from resource development: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) denounces the harmful anti-American energy 

policies of the Biden administration; 

(2) denounces the irrational and unpredictable Federal lands policies of the Biden administration; 

(3) condemns the energy crisis plaguing families, 

businesses, and Americans around the country that has 

been caused by the Biden administration; and 

(4) encourages the domestic production of reliable 

and affordable energy generation sources. 

Attest: 

Clerk.