Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Growing up, I was shaped by my time outdoors, hiking and camping with my family. Now, I’ve made it a priority to keep myself and my children connected to the outdoors, both for recreation and as a place of respite and rejuvenation from the fast pace of life.
Our publicly owned lands are special places that deserve protection, and I am proud to fight for them as I serve in the state Senate. But they are under threat right now.
Cherished places like the Ruby Mountains, Basin and Range National Monument, and more are unnecessarily at risk from irresponsible oil and gas leasing. Though that may be hard to believe considering how little drilling actually takes place in our state, the Trump administration continues to abuse an outdated system that prioritizes the interests of oil speculators over our precious outdoor recreation, water and wildlife resources.
Under this antiquated system, which has changed little in several decades, oil and gas lease sales are held numerous times each year, including in places like Nevada, where the potential for actual development is very low. Further, the Bureau of Land Management blindly offers leases for sale, no matter what oil prices are — and after sinking below zero this year, they are still below $40 per barrel. As a consequence, since the beginning of 2017, just 9% of the over 2.5 million acres of public lands offered to oil and gas companies in Nevada were actually leased, a trend that continued at two lease sales held this year. Even worse, a whopping 81% of the acres that were leased sold for the bare minimum: a paltry $2 per acre.
These sales are supposed to be competitive auctions where oil and gas companies outbid each other for the exclusive right to drill and in order to generate revenue that goes back to our communities to fund crucial projects. But because there is little oil to be found in Nevada, companies have little interest in paying top dollar. Consequently, taxpayer resources are wasted on these sales that give speculators the opportunity to snatch up leases on large swaths of publicly owned land for next to nothing. And once public lands are leased, we lose the ability to fully use these lands for hiking, hunting and fishing — activities that support local businesses, Nevada’s $12.6 billion outdoor recreation economy, and 87,000 direct jobs.
It does not have to be this way. Congress can update our federal oil and gas leasing system to reflect modern economic realities and uses of our public lands. Luckily, here in Nevada we have a champion in Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is working to fix this broken system. Cortez Masto has introduced legislation to prohibit the leasing of lands with little drilling potential, and recently held an informative legislative briefing to reiterate her commitment to this legislation.
This bill becoming law would mean millions of acres of land — with little to no oil below them — could be used to enhance outdoor recreation, preserve wildlife migration corridors, and keep our water clean. We need leaders like Cortez Masto who are fighting to reform our broken leasing system so that families like mine can continue to create memories on our public lands for years to come.
Cortez Masto is also supporting her colleagues who have introduced bills to end wasteful noncompetitive leasing and force oil companies to pay taxpayers a fair share of drilling revenues.
Together, these common sense reforms would make great strides in bringing the public lands leasing system into the 21st century. This pandemic has shown us that our natural spaces are an integral part of our physical and mental well-being. We must reform this decades-old system so future generations can continue to enjoy our public lands and waters, and the recreation opportunities that they provide. Nevada might not be known for its oil, but it can most certainly be known for leading the way on reforming our public lands leasing system.
State Sen. Moises “Mo” Denis represents Nevada’s second district. He is a member of the Advisory Board for Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting and the Outdoors (HECHO).
