The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a press release today, announcing the agency’s intention to defer a number of leases from upcoming onshore oil and gas lease sales.
Phil Francis, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said, “the Bureau of Land Management took a good first step by deferring some of our public lands from oil and gas leasing. However, the agency must also reform the broken federal oil and gas leasing program before any more leasing takes place. This is necessary to protect America’s cherished National Parks from encroaching oil and gas development that threatens the health of the landscape as well as the quality of the visitor experience.”