Entering the Golden Age of American Energy and Resources Dominance

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on realizing the full potential of America's domestic energy supply and natural resources dominance. Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) issued the following statement in response:

"By reversing the Biden administration's disastrous energy policies that locked up millions of acres of public lands and furthered our reliance on hostile foreign tyrants for energy, Republicans in Congress are focused on reducing energy costs, rolling back regulations and expanding domestic energy production to help unleash true American energy dominance."

Background

The federal government owns approximately 640 million acres, about 28% of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States. To put this into scale, Alaska and Texas, the two largest states, have a combined area of approximately 593.5 million acres. As the largest landowner, the federal government is tasked with serving as a benevolent and wise steward, balancing for future generations multiple land uses like energy development, livestock grazing, mining, timber harvesting, recreation and conservation.

Importantly, the multiple-use management of federal lands and waters generates revenues that support schools, infrastructure, transportation, national security, defense, and other national, state and local priorities. In fact, numerous federal, state and local policy goals depend on the revenues produced by activities on federal lands and in federal waters.

President Trump and House Republicans have worked to highlight the importance of revenues generated by the multiple uses of federal lands and waters. On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14154, "Unleashing American Energy," to promote the increased development of America's domestic energy resources. House Republicans also included numerous natural resources provisions to promote domestic energy and mineral development in recent legislation to provide working families with historic tax cuts. After four years of radical preservationist policies, now is the time to unleash the golden age of American energy dominance and embrace the development of our rich supply of natural resources.