BLM Seeks Input on Potential Oil and Gas Lease Sale in Nevada
RENO, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management opened a 30-day public comment period on Monday on two parcels of land totaling 2,330 acres that may be included in an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in Nevada.
The parcels are located just over four miles northeast of Ely, Nevada, and are being considered to be part of a lease sale now planned for June 2024.
The agency notes that leasing the land is only the first step in the process to develop federal oil and gas resources.
Before development operations can begin, an operator must submit an application for a permit to drill, including a detailed explanation of its development plans.
The bureau will then review the application, post it online for public review, and conduct an environmental analysis in coordination with state agencies and other stakeholders.
As authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, the bureau will apply a 16.67% royalty rate for any new leases from this sale.
Ely, Nevada, is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County. Originally established as a stage coast station along a Pony Express route, its early prosperity came about as the result of a mining boom that extended into the early 20th century.
Former First Lady Pat Nixon’s father, William Ryan, was a gold miner in the area, and she was born in Ely in March 1912, though her family moved when she was two and she and her two brothers grew up in what is now Cerritos, California.
Today the area is mostly reliant on tourism for its economic life, being both home to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and the gateway to nearby Great Basin National Park.
Comments can be submitted in writing to the Bureau of Land Management’s Ely District Office, at 702 North Industrial Way, Ely, NV 89301, Attn: Concetta Brown, or electronically to [email protected].
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
