Reject Rollback of Oil and Gas Rule on BLM Lands
- Kaitlyn Fletcher
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Oil and Gas Rule is a set of comprehensive policies that modernize energy development on public lands by strengthening accountability for extractive industries. Use your voice to reject the rollback of these protections.
Deadline: Monday, August 24, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET
The Trump Administration proposed an overhaul of the 2024 Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Rule that would reinstate weak bonding requirements, eliminate public participation, and threaten cherished landscapes, among other rollbacks.
Despite record U.S. oil and gas production, the Administration frames these revisions as critical to energy dominance.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) restructured Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease sales by mandating quarterly auctions in nine Western states. These lease sales continue to expand in size and scope, threatening even more public lands.
These proposed changes to the Oil and Gas Rule are a bailout for Big Oil, paid for by American taxpayers. It is their next attempt to keep the public out of management decisions on their own lands through time restraints, associated costs, and waived notifications.
Below are more details about the proposed rule:
Burden Taxpayers with Billions
Abandoned wells burden American taxpayers with billions in costs, while polluting the air, water, and land within their communities. Companies often abandon wells through strategic asset transfers and bankruptcy tactics.
Reclaiming a single well can cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. Bonds hold these oil and gas companies to their financial and environmental obligations.
To combat this issue, a series of recent reforms modernized bonding requirements for extractive industries. The 2024 rule increased bond minimums to $150,000 for individual leases and $500,000 for all leases within a single state.
The Administration claims the new rates are "inhibiting" access to oil and gas resources, despite record U.S. production. Originally set in the 1950s and 60s, reinstating these weak rates will not cover current costs to clean and plug oil well sites.
Colorado produces significant amounts of the oil and gas on federal lands, with 2 million acres currently leased for development. Nearly a thousand orphaned wells are documented across Colorado. Thousands are likely to be orphaned in the coming years.
Silence Public Perspectives
Diverse stakeholders can contribute their expertise to land management decisions through public comments. The current rule requires the public participation period for proposed oil and gas lease sales to be open for 90 days.
The proposed rule shrinks this period to a mere 10 days because, according to the Administration, the public does not "add value" or lead to "meaningful change" to lease sales.
This is not true. Elected officials, Tribes, and recreationists have engaged in the protest period to protect numerous prized public lands across the West from lease sales.
Open Sensitive Landscapes
To reduce conflicts, the BLM prioritizes areas with high development potential and minimal overlap with other uses, such as recreation, fish and wildlife, and cultural resources. The proposed rule labels this standard practice as a “hindrance” to oil and gas development on public lands.
Penalize Comprehensive Comments
In addition to a limited protest period, the proposed rule would charge $1 per page for pages over 50, including attachments, exhibits, and even hyperlinks. The Bureau has never charged the public to participate in decisions on its own landscapes.
The proposed rule states that this fee would not cover its time for processing protests, characterizing the cost as punitive.
This unprecedented step penalizes comprehensive comments. It would also burden nonprofits like SLVEC that offer the community perspective, scientific baseline, and other resources attached to their comments.
Stop Notification to Private Landowners
The United States has 57 million acres of split-estate land, mostly in Western states, including 4.7 million acres in Colorado. Ranchers and farmers mostly own these lands.
Since 2009, the Bureau must notify private landowners with split-estate properties before leasing subsurface mineral resources. This notification process was in response to concerns from private landowners.
The modernized Oil and Gas Rule enshrined this policy in 2024. The proposed rule strikes this requirement, deeming it an “undue burden on the oil and gas industry.”
The deadline is Monday, August 24, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET.
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