Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

16. Department of the Interior · Notable

Cap rents, royalty rates, and bonding at Inflation Reduction Act levels

Partially done

523 16. Department of the Interior

“Set rents, royalty rates, and bonding requirements to no higher than what is required under the Inflation Reduction Act.”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    BLM's direct final rule revised the fees, rentals and royalties regulations to match P.L. 119-21, completing the royalty half. Bonding is not there yet: BLM extended the statewide $500,000 bond compliance deadline from June 2026 to June 2027 (2025-12-18) and only proposed "to return the minimum bond amounts to those prior to the finalization of the 2024 rule" on 2026-06-24 — announced as replacing the $500,000 statewide requirement with the previous $25,000 standard. Until that rule is final the bonding requirement stands above Inflation Reduction Act levels.

  2. Partially done

    BLM issued four direct final rules effectuating the leasing changes in P.L. 119-21 (2025-07-04): the expression-of-interest fee, the definitions of "eligible" and "available" lands, the removal of the stipulations and mitigation-measures provisions, and the drilling-permit validity period. §50262 of that Act cut the onshore royalty rate back to 12.5 percent, below the Inflation Reduction Act's 16⅔ percent — at or under the ceiling the Quote sets. Bonding was untouched.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

The royalty and rent half is settled by statute; the bonding half is still a proposal. The Inflation Reduction Act set a 16⅔ percent onshore royalty and raised minimum bids and rentals; the 2024 Fluid Mineral Leases rule then set bonds at $150,000 per lease and $500,000 statewide, well above anything the IRA required.

Action
restrict
Object
Federal oil and gas rents, royalty rates, and bonding requirements
ID
1468