Feds Delay Drilling Rights Auction in California
Budget problems, lawsuits blamed
Federal land managers on Tuesday postponed all oil and gas lease auctions in California until October, citing budget problems and low staffing as well as the toll of environmental litigation.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced it would put off an auction planned for later this month for leases to drill almost 1,300 acres of prime public lands near the Monterey Shale, home to one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the nation.
Another auction that had been in the works in the Ukiah area, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, also was put on hold until the end of the fiscal year.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
What about free-speech rights and nose-blowing rights and ass-picking rights, will auctions for those be held up as well?