Sage Grouse Concerns Impact BLM Oil and Gas Bidding in Nevada

Editors Note: A portion of these parcels are within the Silver King and Eagle HMAs, for which American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) supporters submitted 8,500 comments asking BLM to exclude them from the sale.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials say all but one of 97 new oil and gas leases offered at auction in Nevada went unsold because of uncertainty about future protection of the sage grouse.

About two dozen anti-fracking protesters rallied outside the Reno auction Tuesday against the energy exploration they say would be conducted with hydraulic fracturing that threatens Nevada's groundwater.

But BLM Minerals Adjudication Chief Patricia LaFramboise told The Associated Press it was concern about the potential federal listing of the sage grouse that scared off all but one bid from six representatives of the oil and gas industry.

The leases offered for sale Tuesday covered nearly 200,000 acres or about 300 square miles of northeast Nevada.

The only one that sold is for a 473-acre parcel in Nye County.

Originally Posted By Associated Press