Interior Receives Mixed Federal Ruling Over Lease Cancellations

Oil and gas industry groups lost their bid to challenge the Interior Department’s decision to refrain from conducting lease sales for certain years after a federal judge found they lacked standing.

In addition to the issue of standing, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management made “a rational choice” to not hold 2021 lease sales, Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of the US District Court for the District of Wyoming said Dec. 31.

The Mineral Leasing Act grants the Interior secretary the authority to lease federal land to develop natural resources and onshore leasing is delegated to BLM.

Wyoming claimed in 2022 that ...