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The
Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will
offer 63 drilling parcels on nearly 44,000 acres (17,806
hectares) in six Western states over the next two weeks. The
Wyoming sale is by far the largest, with 37 parcels.
The remaining acreage, in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nevada, North
Dakota and Utah, will be sold on Nov. 30, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12.
All the sales will be held on the online auction platform
EnergyNet.
The UN's "Conference of the Parties" on climate, known as COP
28, will begin on Thursday and will take place over the same two
weeks. Dozens of nations plan to push for the world's first deal
to phase out carbon dioxide-emitting coal, oil and gas at the
meeting. U.S. President Joe Biden is not expected to attend.
An Interior spokesperson did not comment on the timing of the
sales.
Environmental groups were critical 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 U.S.," Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for
Friends of the Earth, said in a statement.
U.S. oil extraction policies have been a headache for President
Biden, who promised on the campaign trail to end new leasing on
federal lands and waters, but was blocked by courts from doing
so.
Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a climate change law
passed last year, made oil and gas auctions a prerequisite for
renewable energy development. It also, however, requires higher
royalty rates and minimum bids meant to boost taxpayer returns.
Biden's Interior Department has issued far fewer new leases than
previous administrations. The agency issued 527 leases in fiscal
years 2021 and 2022 combined, compared with 2,740 in the
previous two years, during the Trump administration, according
to BLM data.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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