THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY
COALITION TO PROTECT AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS
NEW MEXICO WILD
The Wilderness Society, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and New Mexico Wild are urging the Bureau of Land Management to take a far more rigorous look at its proposed New Mexico 2026 Third Quarter oil and gas lease sale. Their comments argue that BLM cannot rely on a claimed “national energy emergency” to shortcut required environmental review, and that the agency retains clear authority to defer parcels where leasing would conflict with wildlife, water, cultural, climate, and other public-land values.
The groups contend that BLM must comply fully with NEPA, FLPMA, the Mineral Leasing Act, and its own 2024 leasing regulations. They argue that older Resource Management Plans in areas such as Farmington, Carlsbad, and Pecos are too stale or incomplete to support new leasing decisions without updated analysis, especially because several do not meaningfully address greenhouse gas emissions or climate change. They also flag at least one parcel they say appears to overlap land already closed to leasing under an existing plan.
A major theme of the letter is parcel deferral. The organizations say BLM should actively screen out low-preference parcels rather than move every nominated tract forward. They point to conflicts involving lesser prairie-chicken habitat, critical karst and cave resources, aquifers, springs, and nearby protected cave systems associated with Carlsbad Caverns. The comments also call for deeper review of community health and environmental justice concerns where leasing would intensify development near existing oil and gas activity.
The comments further argue that BLM must analyze the implications of the 2025 Reconciliation Act and recent Interior guidance, which they say may be narrowing agency discretion in unlawful ways. In their view, BLM cannot use those changes to avoid alternatives analysis, rely on outdated plans, or postpone meaningful review until the drilling-permit stage. They maintain that environmental impacts must be examined now, at the lease sale stage, when the government is making an irreversible commitment of public resources.
Finally, the letter raises a newer transparency issue: if BLM uses artificial intelligence at any point in the leasing process, the agency should disclose that use, explain the methodology, and document the relevant inputs and outputs so the public can evaluate the integrity of the record.
Click here to read the full letter.