The Bureau of Land Management has opened a public comment period for 14 oil and gas leases in the Elko District in the northeastern part of Nevada.

The potential leases encompass approximately 20,600 acres which could be potentially included in a lease sale this September. The public comment period will end March 11.

“Leasing is the first step in the process to develop federal oil and gas resources,” the BLM explained in a press release. “Before development operations can begin, an operator must submit an application for permit to drill detailing development plans. The BLM reviews applications for permits to drill, posts them for public review, conducts an environmental analysis and coordinates with state partners and stakeholders.”

A lease sale for 11 oil and gas parcels in Nye County across 19,957 is scheduled for March 31. According to the BLM, it completed scoping on the parcels in September of 2025 and held a public comment period which closed in December of last year. A 30-day public protest period to receive additional public input closes on March 2. According to the BLM’s website, they received expressions of interest on all 11 parcels and plan to issue leases on March 31.

Under the Trump administration, the BLM has shifted tactics away from preferential treatment for wind and solar energy projects towards boosting domestic energy production largely within the oil, gas, coal and geothermal sectors, and deregulating access to natural resources on federal land all in a bid to increase domestic energy production.

The BLM controls the vast majority of land within the state of Nevada and almost all of it within Clark County. The federal agency manages approximately 245 million acres of land, located primarily in western states and Nevada has the highest percentage of federally controlled land in the nation.

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