Comments closed October 19
Stop oil and gas leasing on 13,000 acres in New Mexico
Bureau of Land Management · Carlsbad Field Office (CFO) administered lands, Farmington Field Office (FFO) administered lands
- What
- BLM plans to hand drilling rights on 13,453 acres of federal land to oil and gas companies.
- Where
- Carlsbad Field Office (CFO) administered lands, Farmington Field Office (FFO) administered lands, Oklahoma Field Office (OFO) administered lands, NM, OK
- How much
- 53 parcels total parcels nominated for lease across 3 field offices; 13,453.263 acres total acres subject to leasing; 4 parcels cFO parcels in Lea County (omitted from location table)
- Decided
- Comments closed October 19, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from BLM ePlanning ↗, read October 29, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the BLM NEPA Register DOI-BLM-NM-P020-2026-1065-EA ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- 53 parcels“The Proposed Action is to lease 53 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 13,453.263 acres“Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO), covering 13,453.263 acres” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 4 parcels“The parcels for the CFO include 10 in Eddy County and 4 in Lea County.” Project Description Open the document ↗
- DecidedOctober 19, 2026, from BLM ePlanning, the notice the participation period names (the project's Documents page) ↗: “All protests must be received no later than 4:00 pm Mountain Standard Time on October 19, 2026.”. Read October 29, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 10, 2026.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
PLAN's read: high threat
BLM plans to hand drilling rights on 13,453 acres of federal land to oil and gas companies.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
By the numbers, from the agency’s own document
- Total parcels nominated for lease across 3 field offices
Project Description
Open the document ↗“The Proposed Action is to lease 53 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management”
- Total acres subject to leasing
Project Description
Open the document ↗“Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO), covering 13,453.263 acres”
- CFO parcels in Lea County (omitted from location table)
Project Description
Open the document ↗“The parcels for the CFO include 10 in Eddy County and 4 in Lea County.”
- Field offices splitting one lease sale into separate EAs
- Initial lease term before indefinite continuation
Project Description
Open the document ↗“Oil and gas leases are issued for a 10-year period and continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.”
Source: the agency’s document ↗
The agency’s own analysis
What the notice says, and what it leaves out
The window has closed; the record of what was missing stays.
The agency says
“To view and comment on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) documents specific to this Field Office”
The 'What's New' section shows that BLM posted a draft FONSI alongside the draft EA during the public comment period, before receiving or reviewing any public input.
The agency says
“the lease purchaser has the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as is necessary”
The Project Description reveals that the moment a lease is sold, the buyer holds 'the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as is necessary to explore and drill oil and gas within the lease boundaries,' yet all site-specific impact analysis is deferred to the drilling permit stage.
The agency says
“This is one of 3 offices involved in this lease sale.”
The Project Description states this EA covers only one of three field offices participating in a single lease sale and directs the public to separate NEPA pages for the other two offices.
The agency says
“The Proposed Action is to lease 53 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management”
The Project Information section designates this as an EA, not an EIS, for a proposed action the Project Description describes as covering 53 parcels and 13,453.263 acres of federal mineral estate.
The agency says
“Oil and gas leases are issued for a 10-year period and continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.”
The Project Description discloses that oil and gas leases run for a 10-year initial term and then continue without any end date for as long as production continues.
The agency says
“Surface Management Agency stipulations (if applicable) for Federal Oil and Gas Lease Offerings would apply.”
The Project Description states that 'Surface Management Agency stipulations (if applicable)' would be attached to the leases but does not identify which surface management agencies oversee which of the 53 parcels, nor what their stipulations require.
The agency says
“The parcels for the CFO include 10 in Eddy County and 4 in Lea County.”
The Project Description identifies 4 CFO parcels located in Lea County, yet the Project Location table lists only Eddy County entries with no Lea County row anywhere in the table.
In the agency’s own words
The Proposed Action is to lease 53 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oklahoma Field Office (OFO), Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO), covering 13,453.263 acres. Standard terms and conditions as well as lease stipulations listed in the relevant BLM OFO, FFO, and CFO Resource Management Plan(s) (as amended) and Surface Management Agency stipulations (if applicable) for Federal Oil and Gas Lease Offerings would apply. Once sold, the lease purchaser has the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as is necessary to explore…
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in New Mexico and Oklahoma
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in New Mexico and Oklahoma, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Greater Chaco Coalition
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico: The coalition of Diné and Pueblo communities fighting drilling around Chaco.
- Intertribal Buffalo Council
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Oklahoma: On the ground in Oklahoma.
- New Mexico Wild
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico: Led the community campaign for the 2014 designation and executive director Mark Allison spoke at the June 2025 Las Cruces rally against monument reductions and the Senate public land sell-off provisions.
- Western National Parks Association
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Oklahoma: On the ground in Oklahoma.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
The photograph on this page: Pronghorn in sagebrush steppe. It’s the country this decision sits in, not the site itself. More Than Just Parks.
In court on this ground
No court case we track is over Carlsbad Field Office.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗BLM ePlanningWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
On the record for this fight
2 people told us they filed on this fight through PLAN; we haven’t found any of their letters on the agency’s record yet.
- Karen W.54 seals
- and 1 more steward
Ranked on letters found on the agency’s record, then letters filed. Readers appear as first name and last initial, or as a steward in their state; switch yours off in your record. All boards
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