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Representative Wesley Hunt has introduced H.R. 9472, known as the Comprehensive Offshore Resource Enhancement (CORE) Act. The bill aims to provide an accurate assessment of undiscovered oil and gas reserves in the United States and the Gulf of Mexico.
Hunt's initiative comes in response to what he describes as a deliberate underestimation of these reserves by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) under the Biden Administration. According to Hunt, this underestimation has been used to justify offering the fewest number of oil and gas lease sales in a five-year plan.
The CORE Act seeks to bring transparency to geophysical and geological (G&G) resource mapping conducted by the Department of the Interior (DOI). It also aims to reform the G&G survey application process and protect these surveys from lawsuits initiated by climate activists.
"Time and time again we've seen the Biden Administration politicize mundane and traditionally non-partisan processes to harm America's oil and gas industry. The politicization of geophysical and geological surveys is no different," Hunt stated.
He further emphasized the global need for energy sourced from the Gulf of Mexico, which he claims is "the cleanest and most efficient oil and gas found anywhere in the world." By mandating that BOEM provide an accurate assessment of undiscovered reserves, Hunt believes that reliance on a transparent formula could remove discretion from partisan officials, potentially reducing energy prices nationwide.