The Bureau of Land Management issued environmental assessments and sale notices for oil and gas leases on federal land in seven U.S. states, a step mandated by court order.
The notices, announced in a series of news releases late Monday, represent a significant departure from President Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to end fracking on federal lands, though they could aid the administration in its more recent efforts to boost oil production in response to soaring energy costs.
BLM issued the assessments and sale notices for Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
BIDEN RESUMES OIL AND GAS LEASES ON FEDERAL LAND AT A DRAMATICALLY LESSENED SCALE
The documents come after the administration announced Friday that it would resume the federal leases, though it said it will significantly reduce the amount of available land to just 144,000 acres, an 80% reduction from the originally proposed acreage, and will begin charging companies royalties of 18.75%, up from 12.5%.
The move also comes as Biden has sought to encourage domestic production of oil and gas to tame the spike in energy prices, especially gas prices above $4 a gallon, which have cut into support for his party ahead of the November midterm elections.
In announcing its decision, the administration emphasized its desire for balance, weighing the protection of public lands against the urgency of increasing domestic production.
To that end, officials have sought to frame the issue largely as one that will help fix “deficiencies” in the federal oil and gas leasing program.
“How we manage our public lands and waters says everything about what we value as a nation,” Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement Friday.
“For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of Tribal Nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands,” she added.
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Not all leased lands become developed, however. As the Interior Department explains, the leasing process “enables companies to secure rights to mineral resources” before making costly investments in geophysical testing and other exploratory testing to determine whether a site will be economically feasible.
In fact, it noted, less than 1% of all BLM lands are developed for oil and gas use.
