WASHINGTON — In order to comply with a provision of the climate, tax and health care law signed in August the Interior Department announced Thursday it would move forward with onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and waters.
At the behest of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., the law included provisions that required the Interior Department to conduct offshore leases it had previously canceled and specified that land could only be leased for renewable energy development if a certain acreage was offered for oil and natural gas leasing.
For onshore leasing, the Bureau of Land Management will begin scoping for its next sales in New Mexico and Wyoming “under a strategy that includes onshore lease sales consistent with the terms of the law,” which include changes such as increasing the minimum royalty rate, assessing a fee for filings of expressions of interest and eliminating non-competitive leasing.
