Environmental groups are demanding that the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cancel its upcoming lease sale to the oil and gas industry of almost 10,000 acres of public land in New Mexico and Oklahoma. The BLM’s auction is scheduled for May 25. Ten-year leases will be granted, or leases will be for “as long as oil and gas is produced”.

Approximately “…3,279 acres in Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties, in southeast New Mexico’s Permian Basin region, and another 6,844 acres in Cheyenne County, Oklahoma” are included in the sale, states an article posted at CurrentArgus.com. Of the 3,279 acres that will be auctioned for lease, nine parcels totaling 955 acres are located in Lea County.

Conservationists oppose the BLM’s sale. These factions want oil and gas extraction on public lands to be near zero by the year 2035. Such a reduction would significantly impact southeastern New Mexico counties, including Lea. 

About the lands slated for sale on May 25, a Carlsbad Current Argus article quotes the BLM as stating, “Within these counties, as well as the area immediately surrounding the nominated lease parcels, there already exists extensive oil and gas development and production. Oil and gas development and its attendant industry are identifying components of the economic and social fabric of the region.”

Environmental Groups Take Action 

This week some 200 environmental groups signed a letter opposing the May 25 sale. The letter was sent to BLM field offices in Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Farmington and Las Cruces. In addition to the letter, the groups are planning a protest rally on May 25 in Santa Fe at the BLM’s New Mexico headquarters there.

The letter signed by the environmentalists states, “We are shocked and dismayed that in spite of a clear scientific, political, and public consensus that action for the climate requires we begin to phase out fossil fuels, the BLM is continuing the legacy of sacrifice zones in New Mexico by moving forward with the auction of additional public and ancestral lands to more oil and gas leasing and drilling.”

The letter also addresses President Joe Biden’s support during his presidential campaign to phase out oil and gas operations. The letter says, “President Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands. The federal government, including the President himself, has a moral and ethical imperative to confront the climate crisis. The public health toll of oil and gas extraction is incalculable.”

In 2019, the Biden administration halted “”new oil and gas leasing as the Interior Department conducted a review of its fossil fuel policies,” states the Current Argus article. The result of the government’s action was “higher royalty rates and fees charged to operators for extraction from leased federal land.” The environmental groups argue that the action by the Biden administration was not enough “to protect the U.S. from perceived environmental threats posed by extraction.” Potential environmental threats the letter outlines are “worsening air quality, water scarcity and extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding.”

Suit Filed Opposing Oil and Gas Exploration on Public Lands

Earlier this year in March, WildEarth Guardians, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), parent agency to the BLM, alleging the DOI’s “…failure to phase out oil and gas operations on public land,” states a Current-Argus article.

According to a WildEarth Guardians press release, the suit was filed after a “Notice of Intent to Sue” was signed in January by “…more than 360 climate, Tribal, religious and conservation groups….”

The press release continues that a framework to manage the decline “of federal oil and gas production to near zero by 2035” was presented. The need is based on research that suggests that if such action is not taken global warming will increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2034.

“Allowing continued, unchecked extraction of fossil fuels would all but make it impossible to avoid disastrous climate change and to keep global temperature increases well below 1.5°C of warming,”states the lawsuit.

The suit warns that “…unabated fossil fuel production now presents a clear and present danger to the climate, natural habitats and wildlife across the United States, and is unjustly burdening impacted communities everywhere.”

WildEarth Guardians fault the Biden administration for contributing to the problem. They admonish the administration’s failure to enact “…policies that align federal fossil fuel leasing, permitting or production with decline curves necessary to avoid the catastrophic consequences of warming 1.5 degrees Celsius.” WildEarth notes that the Biden administration has issued more drilling permits on public lands in two years than did the Trump administration.

WildEarth’s Program Director of Climate and Energy Jeremy Nichols says about Biden, “Far from living up to his promise to protect the climate, President Biden is actually undermining his commitment to the American public to end fossil fuel leasing.” … “This lawsuit aims to ensure President Biden’s administration heeds the reality that we need to transition the United States away from both the consumption and production of oil and gas.”

According to a study published in 2018 by the Stockholm Environment Institute, a rapid transition away from fossil fuels is necessary to avoid harmful climate change. The study states that “…global consumption and production of fossil fuels—particularly coal and oil—will need to end almost entirely within 50 years.”

Some Support the BLM’s Leasing of Federal Lands

Supporting the federal government’s leasing of its lands for oil and gas exploration is the argument that the Minerals Leasing Act requires such leasing. “The Minerals Leasing Act requires that [the] BLM offer oil and natural gas leases in every state where there’s interest expressed by companies,” states Aaron Johnson, Vice President of Public and Legislative Affairs of the Western Energy Alliance . “That certainly applies to New Mexico.”

Johnson also said that lease auctions of federal lands for oil and gas exploration by the BLM are additionally required by the Inflation Reduction Act. Such auctions are “…a condition of offering permits for renewable energy projects.”

More close to home Kayley Shoup, organizer of Carlsbad’s environmental group Citizens Caring for the Future, supports ceasing the BLM’s program of leasing New Mexico’s public lands for oil and gas exploration. Shoup states, “The land they’re leasing is basically all in the Permian. We’re asking the BLM director to halt this oil and gas sale. We know that’s highly unlikely, but we think it’s a reasonable ask at this point.”

Ms. Shoup may be correct in her analysis that the leasing will continue. Nothing suggests that environmentalists’ opposition is doing anything to curtail the BLM’s current leasing program. According to Adrian Hedden in his Current Argus article, the BLM is moving forward to gain “…approval for another lease sale of about 434 acres in Eddy and Lea counties slated for November.” Nothing seems to be changing.