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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced yesterday that it is considering leasing nearly 112,500 acres in oil and gas lease sales scheduled for 2023 in Utah and Wyoming. The announcement follows similar announcements earlier this fall of oil and gas lease sales in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.
The BLM recently published instructional memoranda directing BLM field offices to implement the reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing system included in the Inflation Reduction Act, including raising royalty rates, minimum bids, and rental rates for onshore oil leasing, adding a $5 per acre fee for expressing interest in federal land for leasing, and eliminating non-competitive leasing. While these instructional memoranda will apply to the recently-announced lease sales, they also can be easily rewritten or rescinded in the future.
Rather than rushing to lease over 100,000 acres of public land, the BLM should focus on permanently implementing reforms to the oil and gas leasing system via a formal rulemaking process. The BLM should also use the rulemaking process to address major problems highlighted by the Interior Department in a report on the federal oil and gas leasing system released last year. This includes requiring oil and gas companies to fully pay for potential clean-up costs so taxpayers aren’t stuck with the bill for cleaning up abandoned wells; avoiding the leasing of areas with low potential for oil and gas development; and creating a more transparent process that provides meaningful opportunities for public engagement and tribal consultation.
The lease sales announced yesterday and earlier this fall lock in more leasing that lacks some of these needed reforms. "For decades, the federal oil and gas leasing system has shortchanged wildlife and taxpayers while threatening the health of our communities and our environment. New, durable rules are long overdue and desperately needed to ensure the program better serves everyone—not just the oil and gas industry," Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby said in a statement. "Oil and gas companies have already leased a stockpile of 12 million acres of undeveloped public land and nearly 9,000 approved but unused permits to drill, so the BLM does not need to rush any more acres out the door."
Spending bill proposes funding boost for Interior Department
The omnibus spending package released yesterday by appropriators proposes a budget increase of $574 million for the Interior Department. This includes increases of $300 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, $210 million for the National Park Service, $128 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and $103 million for the U.S. Geological Survey.
The BLM is slated to receive a funding increase of $83 million. The BLM's National Conservation Lands system, which manages over 35 million acres and which lawmakers called "chronically underfunded," would receive an increase of $12.1 million, or about 25 percent, compared to the previous year. Though these funding levels are less than what President Joe Biden requested, they represent increases compared to previous years, and are likely to be the last increases for a while with Republicans set to take control of the House in January.
Not included in the package are an extra $450 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the popular Recovering America's Wildlife Act after lawmakers couldn't agree on the mechanism to pay for the measure. The bill also includes a rider, included in every spending bill since 2015, that prevents the federal government from listing the greater sage-grouse as endangered.
Congress has until Friday December 23rd to pass the package in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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We need to fix the underlying problem threatening our public lands through federal bonding reform to ensure that clean-up is funded in full by the companies who are making the mess.”
