Congress moves to reopen federal waters to oil and gas drilling
H.R. 408 — To nullify the Presidential memoranda on the withdrawal of certain areas of the outer Continental Shelf from oil or natural gas leasing. · Filed by Jodey Arrington (R-TX) · Introduced Jan 15, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill voids two presidential orders issued on January 6, 2025, that withdrew large areas of the outer Continental Shelf (in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic, Pacific, and Northern Bering Sea) from oil and natural gas leasing. By nullifying those withdrawal orders, the bill restores those areas to potential oil and gas development.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to restore federal ocean areas to oil and gas development by voiding presidential withdrawal orders. It is a straightforward deregulatory measure that opens public waters to energy extraction.
What the text implies
- Reopening these areas may trigger litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA), as the withdrawn areas were protected partly on environmental grounds.
- The bill does not address lease terms, royalty rates, or environmental mitigation requirements—those remain subject to existing law, but the underlying access is restored.
- Restoring leasing in the Northern Bering Sea may conflict with Alaska Native subsistence and cultural interests, as that region was withdrawn partly for climate resilience and indigenous protection.
- The bill applies retroactively to memoranda signed just days before introduction, suggesting a rapid legislative response to a recent executive action.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose environmental and climate protections that the withdrawn areas provided. Reopening federal waters to oil and gas leasing increases extraction on public lands, raising climate and ocean-health risks borne by the public, while concentrating financial gains in the energy sector.
Who stands to gain
- oil and gas exploration and production companies
- offshore drilling contractors
- energy sector service providers
Named in the bill
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Natural Resources, Presidential Memoranda (January 6, 2025), Outer Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Northern Bering Sea, Mr. Arrington (sponsor)
Where it stands
- Jan 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 15, 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
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $500,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Jodey Arrington, the sponsor, reported $573,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Independent Petroleum Association of America — $500,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 18, 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 (1,343 characters) on Jun 3, 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 18, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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