Oil & Gas Leasing Backlog Starts to Loosen

August 10th, 2010 • Filed Under
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Posted by Staff

CHEYENNE  —  The backlog of federal oil and gas leases in Wyoming is finally starting to loosen up. The 2-year-old delay began breaking loose a few days ago as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced it finally will issue 145 leases sold in June 2008.

The bureau announced from its state heaquarters in Cheyenne that it plans to defer another 43 leases from that sale, primarily because of ongoing concerns about protecting sage grouse.  The BLM had to study each of several environmental objections raised about drilling in most of the areas offered for lease, according to Michael Madrid, branch chief for fluid mineral operations for the BLM in Wyoming.

Also sited by BLM officials as a contributing factor to the dealy was the change in presidential administrations, and the uncertainty over whether sage grouse would be listed as an endangered or threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier this year that federal protection for sage grouse is warranted but not possible because other species are in more urgent need of protecting. The announcement helped clear the way for the BLM to decide what to do about the objections involving sage grouse.

“All of that took awhile,” Madrid said Friday. “And we finally got there.”

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