The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is marking the United Nation’s global climate confab by auctioning off tens of thousands of acres of federal oil and gas land in half a dozen Western states this week.On Tuesday, it will auction off 37 parcels covering more than 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) in Wyoming, followed by similar sales in New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Nevada over the next two weeks. In all, another 63 parcels covering 44,000 acres (18,000 hectares) will be up for grabs.That will be followed up later this month with a court-ordered oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, despite a vow from the Biden Administration not to do so..The flurry of activity is in response to Senator Joe Manchin’s support for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Biden had previously campaigned on putting an end to federal leases sales but has consistently been blocked by the courts from doing so.It comes as the heads of the world’s gather in Dubai for the ‘Conference of the Parties’ that will take place over the next two weeks. There, they will try to reach an agreement to phase out fossil fuels.Predictably, environmental groups were critical of the timing of the sales."Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the US," Friends of the Earth spokesperson Nicole Ghio said in a statement..Earlier this month the group said it plans to appeal a federal court ruling that will allow the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope to proceed. The USD$8 billion project involves the drilling of 250 oil wells on the frozen tundra capable of extracting 750 million barrels of oil or about 200,000 barrels per day.Environmentalists are worried it could lead to even more development in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve after ConocoPhillips said it had identified more than three billion barrels of potential reserves on adjacent prospects.
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is marking the United Nation’s global climate confab by auctioning off tens of thousands of acres of federal oil and gas land in half a dozen Western states this week.On Tuesday, it will auction off 37 parcels covering more than 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) in Wyoming, followed by similar sales in New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Nevada over the next two weeks. In all, another 63 parcels covering 44,000 acres (18,000 hectares) will be up for grabs.That will be followed up later this month with a court-ordered oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, despite a vow from the Biden Administration not to do so..The flurry of activity is in response to Senator Joe Manchin’s support for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Biden had previously campaigned on putting an end to federal leases sales but has consistently been blocked by the courts from doing so.It comes as the heads of the world’s gather in Dubai for the ‘Conference of the Parties’ that will take place over the next two weeks. There, they will try to reach an agreement to phase out fossil fuels.Predictably, environmental groups were critical of the timing of the sales."Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the US," Friends of the Earth spokesperson Nicole Ghio said in a statement..Earlier this month the group said it plans to appeal a federal court ruling that will allow the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope to proceed. The USD$8 billion project involves the drilling of 250 oil wells on the frozen tundra capable of extracting 750 million barrels of oil or about 200,000 barrels per day.Environmentalists are worried it could lead to even more development in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve after ConocoPhillips said it had identified more than three billion barrels of potential reserves on adjacent prospects.
