The head of the Bureau of Land Management sent an email to staffers Friday thanking them for finalizing this week two major rules that advance the Biden administration’s renewable energy goals and revamp oversight of oil and natural gas development on federal lands.
“There are milestones that demand a moment to pause, celebrate and reflect on the honor we all have to do our work,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning wrote in the email to bureau staffers. “This is one of them. The Bureau finalized two rules in the last two days, representing years and years of work.”
BLM on Thursday announced it has completed a final rule that streamlines permitting and cuts by as much as 80 percent the acreage rental rates and capacity fees for wind and solar power projects.
On Friday, BLM released a final version of the Oil and Gas Leasing Rule that increases federal royalty rates and hikes by 15 times the minimum bond requirement for drilling a federal lease — to $150,000 per lease from the current $10,000.
