The Interior Department announced a new policy Tuesday designed to speed up and expand oil and gas leasing on public land.
The plan shortens lease parcel reviews by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management to six months — a timeline that could cut review times in half from what they were during the last two years of the Biden administration.
BLM manages 245 million acres of federal land and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, making its decisions closely watched by the energy industry as well as conservation groups. In a news release, Interior pointed to President Donald Trump’s push to open up more land for development while cutting review times.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are ending the unnecessary delays and bureaucratic roadblocks that have held back American energy production for too long,” Adam Suess, acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management at Interior, said in a statement.
