Opposition to a sale of public land to the oil and gas industry could be voiced and entered into official record for the next week as the federal Bureau of Land Management opened a protest period Monday for a quarterly lease sale scheduled in May.
The sale of federal public land, offered in Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties and Wise County, Texas, was planned for May 20 to 21, with protests accepted from March 23 to April 1.
In total, the sale offered 95 parcels of land, or about 45,000 acres, nominated by the industry for oil and gas exploration and production.
In Eddy County, five parcels were offered at a total of 3,496 acres, along with 10 parcels or 4,068 acres in neighboring Lea County.
About 83 percent of land involved in the auction was in Chaves County, with 79 parcels on 37,796 acres available to bids.
One, 31-acre parcel was offered in Wise County, Texas.
In its environmental assessment released Monday, the U.S. Department of the Interior reported a finding of “no significant impact†on the land offered in the auction.
“The nominated parcels are within an area designated as open to oil and gas leasing under standard terms and conditions and special stipulations in the Carlsbad and Roswell (resource management plans), as amended,†read the assessment.
“Although the act of leasing the nominated lease parcels does not authorize development of the parcels, by leasing the parcels, the BLM commits to honoring the rights of the lessee to explore and potentially develop the parcels for oil and gas production.â€
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