< All Press Releases

Consistent with the direction in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bureau of Land Management Montana/Dakotas State Office has released an environmental assessment proposing to offer 32 parcels (10,842.44 acres) in western North Dakota for the planned June 2023 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale. The release of this environmental assessment starts a 30-day public protest period, which will end June 8, 2023.

The BLM completed scoping on these parcels in February 2023 and the public comment period in March/April 2023. The Environmental Assessment is now available for protest. All parcels leased as part of an oil and gas lease sale include appropriate stipulations to protect important natural resources. Public protests are accepted electronically via the BLM Land Use Planning and National Environmental Policy Act Register (ePlanning). Protests received by other methods will not be accepted. Additional information, including spatial data and exhibits, are online on our ePlanning website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022645/510.

This BLM lease sale will include updated fiscal provisions authorized by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act:

• Minimum bids for all offered parcels will be $10 per acre, an increase from the $2 per acre minimum bid set in 1987;
• Royalty rates will be 16.67 percent, up from the previous minimum of 12.5 percent; and
• Rental rates will be $3 per acre for the first two years; $5 per acre for years three through eight; and $15 per acre for years nine and ten. (Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act, rental rates were $1.50 per acre for the first five years and $2 per acre for each year thereafter, rates originally set in 1987).

Further information can be found online at https://www.blm.gov/policy/im-2023-008.