Consistent with the direction in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas State Office released an environmental assessment analyzing 51 parcels (20,722.22 acres) for the proposed June 2023 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale. These include 12 parcels located within Billings County, North Dakota (4,880.04 acres), one parcel located within Golden Valley County, North Dakota (636.96 acres), 22 parcels located within McKenzie County, North Dakota (6,482.44 acres), three parcels located within Mountrail County, North Dakota (945.12 acres), and 13 parcels located within Slope County, North Dakota (7,777.66 acres). The release of this environmental assessment starts a 30-day public comment period, which will end April 10, 2023.

The BLM completed scoping on these parcels in February 2023 and now seeks public comment on the environmental analysis. All parcels leased as part of an oil and gas lease sale include appropriate stipulations to protect important natural resources. Public comments are accepted electronically via the BLM Land Use Planning and National Environmental Policy Act Register (ePlanning). Comments received by other methods will not be accepted. Additional information, including spatial data and exhibits, are online on our ePlanning website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022645/510.

Please note the most valuable public comments are practical and relevant to the proposed action. For example, comments may question, within reason, the accuracy of information, methodology or assumptions, then present reasonable alternatives to those already analyzed. Comments containing only opinions and/or preferences, or those seeming similar to other comments will not be addressed specifically in the environmental review process.

This BLM lease sale will include updated fiscal provisions authorized by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act:

• Minimum bids for all offered parcels will be $10 per acre, an increase from the $2 per acre minimum bid set in 1987;
• Royalty rates will be 16.67 percent, up from the previous minimum of 12.5 percent; and
• Rental rates will be $3 per acre for the first two years; $5 per acre for years three through eight; and $15 per acre for years nine and ten. (Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act, rental rates were $1.50 per acre for the first five years and $2 per acre for each year thereafter, rates originally set in 1987).

Further information can be found here.  

Original source can be found here