PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO)- Each fiscal year, Congress is tasked with passing a new National Defense Authorization Act. It's the Pentagon's entire yearly budget and one of the few bills that must be signed into law annually. This year Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert successfully attached her own "Pueblo Jobs Act" as part of the package.

WASHINGTON – A bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert would prevent a proposed rule to raise bonding levels on millions of acres in Colorado that would restrict oil and gas leasing on federal lands. The Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule proposed by the Bureau of Land Management would change fees, rents and royalties to reflect provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Colorado Energy Prosperity Act passed the House as part of the Interior Appropriations Bill and prohibits the Bureau of Land Management from locking up 1.6 million acres of land in Colorado from responsible oil and gas production. The BLM’s 1.6-million-acre land grab is another blatant overreach designed to dismantle the fossil fuel industry, increase gas prices, and force a green transition.

Also part of HR1 which was successfully passed by the House, the 90-Day Review Act decreases the amount of time that someone or an organization can file for a judicial review of a permit or major infrastructure project from 150 days to 90 days. This would be a huge boost to getting major infrastructure projects moving instead of being bogged down by the threat of litigation from bad actors.

The Pueblo Jobs Act is a critical piece of legislation for the Colorado economy that will create over 1,000 new jobs following the closing of the Pueblo Chemical Depot. This legislation prevents billions of dollars of infrastructure from being torn down and bulldozed and allows it to be repurposed for local economic development. This important legislation was signed into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in December of 2023.

In response to another harmful BLM rule that would put more undue regulations on oil & gas producers in the 3rd District, Congresswoman Boebert introduced the RAED Act to repeal this Biden Administration policy. This legislation passed the House as a standalone bill.