September – October 2023, Volume 51, Number 5

Powder River staff and members traveled to Denver, CO in late August to show support for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule. Readers may recall from our previous issue that the rule makes long overdue changes to the onshore oil and gas leasing process, including updating bonding requirements to better reflect the actual costs of well plugging and reclamation. The proposed rules also require inactive wells to be plugged and reclaimed sooner, end the practice of non-competitive leasing, and make it harder for companies in non-compliance with BLM rules to acquire new leases. All these changes benefit you, the American taxpayer, by reducing the risk of well abandonment by irresponsible operators.

To continue reading, view the PDF.