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When President Joe Biden paused all leasing of federal public lands in January to reform the leasing process, oil and gas companies were quick to cry wolf. They said it would devastate their industry and wreak havoc on rural communities in the West. They helped commission research that wildly overestimated the leasing pause’s impact on jobs, and then tried to hide their involvement in the study. Meanwhile, oil and gas production has returned to Trump-era levels around the West.
A report published yesterday by the Conservation Economics Institute and paid for by the Natural Resources Defense Council debunks the oil and gas industry’s claims. It found the leasing pause has had minimal impacts so far, and is unlikely to affect the rate of production in the West for decades. In fact, it found that oil and gas companies are currently sitting on leases for enough public land to last them 75 years. That’s right. Drilling could continue for decades on the leases industry holds to over 20 million acres of public land in the West.
The report also found that while oil and gas companies like to say they are some of the biggest employers in the West, fossil fuel extraction—including mining—only accounts for 2.5% of jobs in New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Utah. Compare that to the service industry, which provides 50% of employment in those states. Finally, the report found that counties with protected public lands are more attractive to a variety of businesses than oil and gas dependent counties.
This new research confirms what was already clear: it’s time for land management agencies to stop focusing on fossil fuel production and start prioritizing other uses for our public lands, like renewables and conservation. And it’s time to reform the federal leasing system so oil and gas companies can’t lock up millions of acres of public land.
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The effects of climate change in New Mexico are obvious as wildfires and severe droughts have become commonplace. It’s time to power our world in cleaner ways.”
