A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to evaluate opportunities to enhance domestic oil and gas production through the exchange of nonproducing Federal oil and gas leases located in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, in the Flathead National Forest, and on Bureau of Land Management land in the State of Montana, and for other purposes.

This bill would require the Department of the Interior to study ways to move oil and gas drilling activities away from sensitive areas in Montana, including the Flathead and Lewis and Clark National Forests. Under the proposal, the government would evaluate offering energy companies the chance to trade their current, non-producing leases in these areas for new drilling rights in less sensitive parts of Montana or the Gulf of Mexico. To allow time for this evaluation, the bill would also pause existing leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area for three years.

For citizens, the practical impact would be a potential shift in where energy production occurs, aiming to protect specific Montana landscapes while maintaining domestic oil and gas output elsewhere. If implemented, the bill could lead to the permanent cancellation of drilling leases in these national forests in exchange for credits or new leases in established energy-producing regions.