Declaration of Energy Independence Act
Official title: To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to make certain adjustments to the royalty rates for leases for oil and gas extraction on Federal land, and for other purposes.
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Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Declaration of Energy Independence Act
This bill reduces certain royalty rates, minimum bids, rental rates, and fees for onshore oil and gas leases on federal lands and modifies related leasing procedures.
Specifically, the bill (1) decreases the royalty rate from 16 2/3% to 12 1/2% for developing oil and gas on federal lands, (2) lowers the minimum bid amount from $10.00 to $2.00 per acre for oil and gas leases on federal lands, and (3) decreases the rental rates from a maximum of $15.00 per acre to $1.50 per acre for the first five years and $2.00 per acre thereafter. The bill also eliminates the fee for expressing interest in a lease.
It also modifies leasing procedures to provide for noncompetitive leasing under certain circumstances.
In addition, the bill modifies the conditions for the reinstatement of leases that have been cancelled or terminated, including by reducing the applicable royalty and rental rates.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 526: Declaration of Energy Independence Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-526/
"H.R. 526: Declaration of Energy Independence Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-526/.
H.R. 526, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-526/.
[H.R. 526: Declaration of Energy Independence Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-526/)