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While much of the country is focused on the coronavirus pandemic, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt continues to lease public lands for oil and gas development for dirt cheap prices, locking up lands that could be managed for other uses. Taxpayers are unlikely to see fair returns for the development of publicly-owned resources during the oil price crash.
This week, the Bureau of Land Management has held oil and gas lease sales in three Western states—Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming—while the price of oil sits just above $24 a barrel. In total, just 78,000 of the 194,000 acres available for lease were purchased, and many sold for the minimum bid of $2 per acre. The remaining unsold leases can now be purchased noncompetitively for just $1.50 per acre. The Bureau of Land Management will hold another lease sale today in Colorado, offering up almost 19,000 acres of public lands for lease for oil and gas development.
The Trump administration has offered a total of 24.4 million acres of public lands for oil and gas leasing. The industry has purchased just 21 percent. The Center for Western Priorities oil and gas dashboard will continue to track lease sales.
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The administration is essentially taking advantage of the fact that the public is distracted and in fact disabled from fully engaging against this ideological push.”
