A 30-day public comment period commenced on the proposed lease sale, which includes 135 parcels totalling about 169,751 acres
BLM will offer about 169,751 acres during the June 2020 lease sale. (Credit: Pixabay/skeeze)
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming is planning to offer 135 parcels totalling about 169,751 acres during the June 2020 lease sale for oil and gas exploration and production.
As part of the plan, BLM Wyoming has launched a 30-day public comment period, which is scheduled to be closed in 12 March 2020.
Initially, the BLM reviewed 147 parcels nominated for the sale. However, five whole parcels and parts of four others were removed from the proposed sale.
In addition, BLM intends to defer three whole parcels and parts of three others due to other resource conflicts.
BLM said in a statement: “The BLM reviewed all proposed parcels to ensure leasing them conforms to all applicable land use plans, including the 2015 Approved Sage-Grouse Resource Management Plan Amendments for the Rocky Mountain Region, which are currently in effect due to the preliminary injunction of the BLM’s 2019 sage-grouse plan amendments by the U.S. District Court of Idaho.”
BLM Wyoming generated $117m through oil and gas lease sales last year
The agency within the US Department of the Interior (DOI) responsible for administering public lands, BLM said that the revenues generated as a result of onshore oil and gas production on federal lands will fund the US Treasury and state budgets.
BLM Wyoming, which claimed to be one of the country’s top energy producers on public lands, has raised nearly $117m through oil and gas lease sales in 2018
In October 2019, the US DOI announced the lease sale of approximately 78 million acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), for oil and gas exploration and development.
The proposed region-wide lease, named Lease Sale 254, is scheduled to take place in March 2020 and will include approximately 14,585 unleased blocks.
The blocks are located in the Western, Central and Eastern planning areas of the US Gulf of Mexico, and are contained in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115ft.
The lease sale excludes blocks that are subject to the Congressional moratorium established by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; blocks adjacent to or beyond the US Exclusive Economic Zone; and blocks within the current boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.