BLM Postpones September Oil and Gas Lease Sale until 2016
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The Bureau of Land Management is postponing the oil and gas lease sale scheduled for September 15, 2015 for land on the Carson City and Winnemucca Districts until September 13, 2016.
In accordance with regulations, each BLM State Office is required to hold competitive oil and gas lease sales at least quarterly if lands are available for competitive leasing.
No Expressions of Interest or Pre-Sale offers for land in the Carson City or Winnemucca Districts were received prior to the December 19, 2014 deadline for the 2015 sale. Interested parties will have until December 18, 2015 to nominate land for the September 2016 sale.
The leasing process from the nomination of parcels to completion of the sale can take many months and begins with industry identifying parcels they would be interested in bidding on. From there the parcels are reviewed by BLM staff to ensure they are available and suitable for development or do not fall in areas where mineral development would be prohibited due the presence of endangered species, critical habitat or conflicting existing uses. Once the list of parcels is finalized, the lease sale notice is posted.
A previous sale for the same districts was postponed in 2013 when the single parcel that had been nominated was discovered to be submerged underwater for part of the year making it ineligible for leasing.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.