Comments closed October 30
Stop oil and gas leasing on 4,053 acres in Eddy and Lea Counties
Bureau of Land Management · BLM Carlsbad Field Office administered lands, BLM Farmington Field Office administered lands
- What
- BLM would hand private companies exclusive drilling rights on 4,053 federal acres in New Mexico's Permian Basin.
- Where
- BLM Carlsbad Field Office administered lands, BLM Farmington Field Office administered lands, BLM Oklahoma Field Office administered lands, NM, OK
- How much
- 4,053.590 acres total acreage offered across all three field offices; 15 parcels total parcels nominated for this lease sale; 10 years initial primary lease term before indefinite continuation
- Decided
- Comments closed October 30, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from BLM ePlanning project page ↗, read September 30, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the BLM NEPA Register DOI-BLM-NM-P020-2026-1439-EA ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- 4,053.590 acres“administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oklahoma Field Office (OFO), Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO), covering 4,053.590 acres” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 15 parcels“The Proposed Action is to lease 15 nominated parcels of federal minerals” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 10 years“Oil and gas leases are issued for a 10-year period” Project Description Open the document ↗
- DecidedOctober 30, 2026, from BLM ePlanning project page, its public participation period ↗. Read September 30, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 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 would hand private companies exclusive drilling rights on 4,053 federal acres in New Mexico's Permian Basin.
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 acreage offered across all three field offices
Project Description
Open the document ↗“administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oklahoma Field Office (OFO), Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO), covering 4,053.590 acres”
- Total parcels nominated for this lease sale
Project Description
Open the document ↗“The Proposed Action is to lease 15 nominated parcels of federal minerals”
- Initial primary lease term before indefinite continuation
- CFO parcels by county
Project Description
Open the document ↗“The parcels for the CFO include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County.”
- Public comment window open and close dates
- Separate NEPA processes for one lease sale
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 reveals that BLM posted a draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on September 29, 2026, the same day it opened the public comment period, which runs through October 30, 2026.
The agency says
“A permit to drill would not be authorized until site-specific NEPA analysis is conducted.”
The 'Project Description' defers all site-specific analysis of drilling impacts to the permit stage, but it also states that the moment a lease is sold the purchaser holds the exclusive right to explore and drill within the lease boundaries.
The agency says
“This is one of 3 offices involved in this lease sale.”
The 'Project Description' acknowledges that this is one lease sale spanning three field offices, yet BLM has split it into three separate EAs.
The agency says
“continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities”
The 'Project Description' states that leases continue beyond their 10-year primary term for as long as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities, with no stated upper limit.
The agency says
“The Proposed Action is to lease 15 nominated parcels of federal minerals”
The 'Project Description' identifies the proposed action as leasing '15 nominated parcels' without disclosing who nominated them, what criteria BLM applied in accepting all 15, or what alternatives to offering all nominated parcels were considered.
The agency says
“administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oklahoma Field Office (OFO), Farmington Field Office (FFO), and Carlsbad Field Office (CFO)”
The 'Project Description' lists the Oklahoma Field Office as one of three offices administering the 15 parcels, but this project is led by the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico and the notice does not identify which parcels are OFO-administered, where they are located, or which Resource Management Plan governs them.
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 apply 'if applicable' but provides no criteria for determining applicability and does not identify which, if any, of the 15 parcels have a Surface Management Agency with jurisdiction.
The agency says
“The parcels for the CFO include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County.”
The 'Project Description' gives a combined total of 4,053.590 acres for all 15 parcels across three field offices but identifies only that the CFO has 11 parcels in Eddy and Lea Counties, with no CFO-specific acreage stated anywhere in the notice.
In the agency’s own words
The Proposed Action is to lease 15 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 4,053.590 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 a…
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.
- Judith A.77 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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