A Bureau of Land Management offer of more than 10,000 acres of public land for auction to the oil and gas industry in Kansas and New Mexico drew strong protests this week from environmental groups.
The groups demand a halt to the sale that was scheduled for Thursday, May 25.
The sale included 6,844 acres in Cheyenne County, Kansas which is in the northwest part of the state near the city of St. Francis. In New Mexico, the BLM planned to auction leases to 3,279 acres in the southeast part of the state where the Permian Basin is partially located. The land is in Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties.
The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported a letter of protest was signed by more than 200 environmental groups.
“We are shocked and dismayed that in spite of a clear scientific, political, and public consensus that action for the climate requires we begin to phase out fossil fuels, the BLM is continuing the legacy of sacrifice zones in New Mexico by moving forward with the auction of additional public and ancestral lands to more oil and gas leasing and drilling,” read the letter.
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