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DENVER — Westerners overwhelmingly oppose congressional and executive branch  proposals that encourage oil and gas companies to exploit our national public lands without paying fair-market rates and that would leave taxpayers on the hook for costly cleanups after development, according to a new poll released by the National Wildlife Federation. The survey, conducted March 27 to April 10, also showed that voters oppose efforts to reduce local community input on land management decisions and they oppose the rollback of safeguards for wildlife habitat, clean water, hunting, fishing, and other recreation opportunities.

“Westerners overwhelmingly support the common sense oil and gas reforms enacted over the past several years that safeguard wildlife, public lands, and drinking water; that ensure taxpayers receive a fair return and that energy companies — not taxpayers — foot the bill for the costly cleanup after drilling. This strong public sentiment runs counter to some recent proposals in Congress that seek to subsidize oil and gas development on public lands at the expense of overtaxed, hard-working 皇冠体育app官网平台ns,” said David Willms, associate vice president of public lands at the National Wildlife Federation. “As Congress and the administration push to expand oil and gas development, it’s more important than ever to insist it be done in a manner that avoids harming wildlife and water sources, that existing fees and bonding rates are maintained to benefit taxpayers, and that local stakeholders are allowed robust participation in land management decisions.” 

Today’s poll results build on the poll released in February which showed that voters don’t want to reduce bonding rates or continue a practice of speculative leasing which allows oil and gas companies to lease lands that have little potential for producing oil and gas.

“Nearly all Nevadans take advantage of public lands in our state. It should be common sense that we want a balanced approach when managing 86% of our landscape,” said Russell Kuhlman, executive director of the . “Polling confirms that the majority of Nevadans prefer we develop fossil fuels in areas where there is a high likelihood of producing oil and gas while using sound science and public input to ensure our current and future generations enjoy our wildlife and habitat. Congress should take heed of these poll results which show that voters overwhelmingly support recent reforms that safeguard taxpayers, wildlife, and our public lands.” 

New Bridge Strategy conducted the poll in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Below are some of the key findings. The full results can be found here and a point-by-point contrast between current congressional and executive branch proposals against Westerners’ views here.

Overwhelming majorities in every state said we should keep existing fees for oil & gas development
81% Colorado
83% Montana
72% Nevada
79% New Mexico
87% North Dakota
89% South Dakota
76% Utah
79% Wyoming

Overwhelming majorities in every state opposed reducing opportunities for public input on public land management
74% Colorado
75% Montana
70% Nevada
73% New Mexico
81% North Dakota
81% South Dakota
75% Utah
67% Wyoming