BILLINGS, Mont.) – Following an injunction from the Western District of Louisiana, today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Montana/Dakotas State Office issued a final Environmental Assessment and sale notice for a June 2022 lease sale.
Today’s notice incorporates recommendations from the Department of the Interior’s Report on the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program, as well as other reports issued by the Governmental Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office.
The BLM is applying a first-ever increased royalty rate of 18.75% for the leases sold in the current competitive lease sales, in keeping with rates charged by States and private landowners.
The BLM Montana/Dakotas State Office will move forward with Alternative C, as analyzed in the environmental assessment (DOI-BLM-MT-0000-2021-0006-EA), by offering 23 parcels totaling 3,405.8 acres in Fallon, Powder River, Richland and Roosevelt Counties in Montana, and McKenzie, Mountrail, and Williams Counties in North Dakota, on public lands managed by the Miles City Field Office and North Dakota Field Office. The parcels will be offered at the online oil and gas lease sale scheduled for June 28, 2022; the sale can be accessed at www.energynet.com; the parcels may also be viewed on the EnergyNet website approximately 10 days after today’s posting of the Notice of Competitive Lease Sale on the BLM Montana/Dakotas oil and gas web page at https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/leasing/regional-lease-sales/montana-dakotas.
Additionally, today’s posting of the sale notice initiates a 30-day public protest period that ends on May 20, 2022. Protests on the offered parcels may be submitted electronically through ePlanning by accessing the lease sale site at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2015346/510 and following the protest submittal instructions. Protests will also be accepted through the mail or through fax; protests will not be accepted through email. Please mail protests to:
Bureau of Land Management
Montana/Dakotas State Office
Branch of Fluid Minerals
5001 Southgate Drive
Billings, MT 59101
Or Fax: 406-896-5292
The BLM must receive all protests by 4:30 p.m., on May 20, 2022, and as stated can only accept protests submitted through ePlanning, mail or fax. We cannot accept protests through email.
Links to the environmental assessment, maps, parcel lists, Notice of Competitive Lease Sale, and proposed lease stipulations are available online at the BLM ePlanning website at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2015346/510.
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) at 7-1-1 to contact the above individual during normal business hours. The TRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.
The National Fluid Lease Sale System includes information on current and upcoming BLM lease sales.
