** BLM plows ahead with oil lease sales despite tepid interest
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Friday, August 28, 2020
Pumpjack and flare in New Mexico's Permian Basin | Blake Thornberry ([link removed])
The Trump administration resumed oil and gas lease sales this week, with drillers showing far less interest in purchasing thousands of acres in New Mexico. Companies bid an average ([link removed]) of $169 per acre, down sharply from $1,389 per acre in the previous lease sale held in February, and well below the $5,500 per acre average of New Mexico leases sold under the Trump administration.
The oil and gas industry is struggling mightily in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has lowered demand and prices. In the Permian, drilling rig counts ([link removed]) have plummeted to 127, down from more than 400 in March.
Despite the lack of industry interest and lack of a fair return for taxpayers, Interior Secretary Bernhardt and the Bureau of Land Management are plowing ahead with major lease sales ([link removed]) across the West. This week the agency announced it plans to hold the first ([link removed]) oil and gas lease sale in California since 2013.
Quick hits
** Lawsuit claims acting National Park Service director appointment is illegal
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National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
** Revisiting Theodore Roosevelt's complicated legacy
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National Geographic ([link removed])
** Oil and gas drilling rig counts drop again
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S&P Global ([link removed])
** BLM holds first oil and gas lease sale since start of pandemic, draws tepid interest
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Reuters ([link removed])
** BLM plans first California oil and gas lease sale in seven years
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Reuters ([link removed])
** Report: Mining shouldn't come at the expense of special outdoor places
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Northern Rockies News Service ([link removed])
** Ammon Bundy, leader of armed standoffs with federal land managers, arrested again, banned from Idaho capitol
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E&E News ([link removed])
** China forging ahead with new national park system
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National Geographic ([link removed])
Quote of the day
To name someone to act as Park Service Director who does not even work in the Service is a real mindblower. With the enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act the National Park Service should have even greater prominence, but it has been reduced to a secondary bureau in David Bernhardt’s back office.”
—Peter Jenkins ([link removed]) , Senior Counsel of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Picture this
Sonoran Desert Tortoise
Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
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