New England gets permanent shield against federal offshore oil leasing
H.R. 2865 — New England Coastal Protection Act of 2025 · Filed by Seth Magaziner (D-RI) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to permanently prohibit the federal government from issuing oil and gas leases on the outer Continental Shelf (federal waters) off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. It removes the Secretary of the Interior's authority to lease those waters for oil or gas exploration, development, or production.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a geographic prohibition on federal oil and gas leasing. It is a straightforward environmental and coastal-protection measure with no hidden provisions or unrelated riders.
What the text implies
- Permanently forecloses future federal revenue from oil/gas leases in New England waters, reducing Interior Department lease-sale income in that region.
- May increase pressure on oil and gas companies to seek leases in other federal waters (Gulf of Mexico, Alaska) or state waters, potentially shifting development rather than preventing it.
- Establishes a regional precedent for coastal states to seek similar prohibitions, potentially fragmenting federal leasing policy by geography.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens in New England gain protection from offshore oil and gas development, which reduces risks of spills, environmental degradation, and impacts on fishing and tourism economies. The bill restricts federal executive power to lease public resources, which is an accountability measure that aligns with local preference and environmental protection.
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSL Act), Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, U.S. Department of the Interior
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 13 Democrats.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,053,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 59 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Seth Magaziner, the sponsor, reported $526,804 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
- Defenders of Wildlife — $370,000 on 2 filings
- Oceana Inc — $280,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (640 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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