Of the 16,000 comments the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received on a proposal to limit public comment and bond amounts for oil and gas leases, 99% were opposed, according to an analysis by the Center for Western Priorities.
The center’s analysis revealed that of the 15,825 comments submitted to the agency, 43 expressed support for the proposed changes and 42 were considered neutral.
“Nearly 16,000 people took the time to weigh in on this proposal, and the message could not be more clear: the public wants to keep guardrails in place that protect taxpayers, public lands and honest oil and gas operators,” the Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby said in a statement.
The BLM proposal aims to reduce the public input period on oil and gas leases that happen on public land. Currently, the agency offers three opportunities for the public to comment on potential oil and gas leases on BLM land. These three comment periods are each 30 days long and happen during different review periods for every lease.
The new proposal seeks to drop the time frame for the public to provide input on these leases from the cumulative 90 days down to 10 days. It would also eliminate notice of future projects to ranchers on split estate land.
Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said the proposed public comment reduction was unreasonable.
“With the proposal as it's out there today, if you're a rancher or landowner, I think you should be concerned,” Magagna told Wyoming Public Radio in an interview prior to the close of the proposal’s public comment period.
Twenty-two comments explicitly noted concerns about notice to ranchers on split estate land. On this land, ownership of the topsoil and everything on the surface is separate from underground mineral rights. There are about 11 million acres of split estate land in Wyoming. For many private ranches in the state, the BLM holds ownership of the underground mineral rights.
Nearly all of the comments referencing split estate concerns came after a story jointly published by Wyoming Public Radio and High Country News.
Commenters called the proposal to end notice to split estate landowners "ludicrous," “drastic” and “absolutely unacceptable.” None of the comments referencing split estate were in support of the proposal.
The proposal would also drop bond amounts that companies are required to pay before drilling. These bonds act as collateral if the company doesn’t clean up the area properly when it’s done with drilling.
The BLM proposal aligns with goals outlined by the Trump administration to bolster oil, gas and coal industries in the U.S. The new proposal looks to reverse bond increases previously implemented by the Biden administration in 2024.
From 1951 through 2024, statewide bond levels were set at $25,000. Biden raised the bond amount to $500,000. It was a move aimed at addressing inflation and providing communities ripe with drilling more environmental security.
The BLM said the new proposal will aid smaller companies and that other elements of the review process for these leases are designed to account for environmental cleanup.
When a company abandons a well without this cleanup, it is considered “orphaned.” If this occurs, state resources are often used to address potential adverse impacts to communities. This use of taxpayer funds was a common theme among many of the public comments.
“This must not be left for taxpayers to clean up or even left on site to litter the landscape in perpetuity,” Pinedale resident Linda Baker wrote in a letter to BLM director Steve Pearce. “BLM's outrageous and dangerous proposal undermines democratic values by cutting the public out of the lease sale process.”
Numerous local government officials across the West have spoken out about the environmental repercussions many Western communities have experienced when reclamation for drilling projects is inadequate.
“Rolling bond rates back doesn’t modernize the oil and gas program. It just recreates the same mess that Western communities have spent decades trying to clean up,” said Hamby, with the Center for Western Priorities.
A 2023 U.S. Geological Survey analysis documented over 1,000 orphaned wells in Wyoming alone. The rate of orphaned wells has been on a steady decline, particularly among newer wells.
Industry groups have said this decrease shows the efficacy of current industry standards and that the reduction in bond levels will benefit smaller companies.
A joint letter signed by several oil and gas industry groups, including the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, was submitted during the public comment period in support of the proposal.
“Amending BLM’s leasing regulations to bolster oil and natural gas-related activities at home will help stimulate the American economy, provide jobs,
and break the shackles of U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy,” the letter said.
The BLM will review comments and publish a revised proposal in the coming months.
