Tuesday, April 7, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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I grew up in a family that values hiking, camping, hunting, fishing and exploring our country’s beautiful public lands. Some of my first outdoor memories are helping my family prepare food over a campfire and sleeping in a tent.
As Westerners, our rugged terrain and abundant wildlife help define who we are.
Unfortunately, during this time of crisis, we have to worry about protecting public lands, wildlife and our way of life. Yet as the oil and gas market plummets and Nevadans continue to fear for their health and safety, the Trump administration chose to hold yet another oil and gas lease sale in Nevada spanning 70,195 acres, and just held a comment period for sales scheduled for June. The leases offered in this sale were located entirely on land with low development potential.
Despite warnings on expected poor results from experts and local communities, only two of the parcels were leased and both sold for the minimum bid of $2 per acre. The remainder are now available for even less through the “noncompetitive” leasing process.
All market trends indicated that this sale should not have been offered. But these results are part of a longstanding and troubling trend with this administration that threatens our land, wildlife and our Western identity.
Because of the administration’s blind and relentless focus on leasing, oil and gas speculators are snatching up leases for public lands that have little or no potential of ever being developed. Sometimes they pay as little as $1.50 an acre for these lands. Many of these speculators know that there is no reason to ever drill (because there’s no oil), but they want to pad their bottom line with these assets that rightfully belong to you and me. Even some in the oil and gas industry have admitted that this policy has allowed “bad actors” to take advantage of the system.
This shameful practice is a rip-off for the American taxpayer, especially during this time of immense market uncertainty. This disgraceful system also puts a burden on agency employees and limits these public lands from being managed for other purposes, namely recreation or wildlife habitat conservation. Rather than being taken off the table, 98% of the acres that weren’t leased in the March sale will now be made available for lease through the noncompetitive process that allows oil and gas companies to stockpile leases at bargain-basement prices.
Now more than ever, our public lands need to be managed properly to ensure wildlife such as Nevada’s iconic bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk and pronghorn continue to thrive. The Bureau of Land Management’s mandate is “to manage, protect and improve these lands in a manner to serve the needs of the American people.” Its mission is not to enrich big business. The agency needs to be able to manage these lands for multiple uses and shouldn’t be hamstrung by oil and gas speculators who swoop up leases at rock-bottom prices for land that will never provide royalties that could benefit American taxpayers.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., recently introduced legislation that would fix this broken policy by requiring public lands to be assessed for their oil and gas potential and then prohibiting leases on lands that have low or no potential. It is common-sense legislation to make sure speculators can only lease land that has a real chance of being developed. This would allow the BLM to prioritize development in areas that are most economical for oil and gas production. It would free up low-potential lands to be managed for wildlife habitat conservation and recreation, such as hunting, fishing, hiking or camping. Passage of this bill would mean Nevada’s public lands would no longer be used by greedy speculators to inflate their ledgers, and instead those lands would be returned to all of us who enjoy spending time outdoors.
It is shameful that the Trump administration and Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt chose to move forward with this recent sale. During this time of crisis, we need leaders who will put our health and prosperity first, not the interests of the oil and gas industry.
Russell Kuhlman is the executive director of the Nevada Wildlife Federation.
