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The landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed last year contained important and overdue reforms to federal oil and gas leasing, a system that had long benefited the fossil fuels industry. Among the reforms in the IRA was an effort to crack down on speculative leasing which allows companies to lease public land for up to ten years without developing it for oil and gas production, thereby preventing the land from being managed for other purposes, including conservation, recreation, and wildlife.
The problem of speculative leasing is particularly rampant in Nevada, but an upcoming lease sale by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has raised concerns the agency is shirking the reforms outlined in the IRA, according to reporting by The Nevada Independent. In November, the BLM released an internal memorandum providing guidance for enforcing the oil and gas reforms in the IRA that recommended federal land managers reject all nominations that are over three years old or submitted anonymously. But in Nevada, more than 50,000 acres that meet BLM's criteria for rejection are being considered for a lease sale in July.
“What we've found is that in Nevada, 89 percent of the 63,000 acres that they are preparing to lease off were nominated more than three years ago,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities. “[This land] shouldn’t even be up for consideration.”
The BLM is still reviewing the parcels proposed for Nevada’s July lease sale. A spokesperson for the agency said it will comply with the recommendations of the instruction memoranda for implementing the reforms in the IRA, but would not say whether it will remove the Nevada land parcels nominated anonymously and more than three years ago from consideration.
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In New Mexico, this is the last stand. It’s not just slapping down an easement. It’s doing long-term conservation. They (the birds) need large, unfragmented prairies. They need grassland.”
