Public comment is set to expire this week on a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to action off leases for just under 540 acres of federal land in both Chaves and Lea counties.
The land is part of the giant Permian Basin, the world’s biggest oil field. The winning bidder, according to the BLM, would have the “exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as necessary to explore and drill oil and gas within the lease boundaries.”
But a consortium of community action and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and the National Audubon Society, successfully petitioned the BLM in early November asking for a 10-day extension of a public comment period that was originally scheduled to expire on November 28.
The petition charged that the Department of Interior has to date failed to issue a “much-anticipated report on the federal oil and gas programs. Thus, the need to maximize public involvement on these proposals is heightened by the lack of progress on oil and gas reforms.”
That involvement has included stepped-up public input on the leasing of the lands. In response to the petition, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning has said that her agency is “committed to responsible development on public lands, including ensuring that our environmental reviews consider the climate impacts of energy development on lands and communities.”
The land in question includes 320 acres in Chaves County and another 200 acres in Lea County. Leases for such property have a contract lifetime of 10 years.
By Garry Boulard
