Open for comment · closes 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
- 15 parcels total nominated parcels across all three offices; 9 in Eddy County, 2 in Lea County carlsbad Field Office parcels split by county; 10-year minimum; continues as long as production occurs minimum lease term with indefinite continuation
- By when
- Comments to Bureau of Land Management by October 30, 2026.Date from BLM ePlanning project page ↗, read September 30, 2026.
What to ask forAll 8 points →
The agency should withdraw the draft FONSI, hold the significance determination open until all timely public comments have been reviewed, and commit to preparing an EIS if comments identify potentially significant impacts.
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.
- 15 parcels“to lease 15 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 9 in Eddy County, 2 in Lea County“The parcels for the CFO include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County” Project Description Open the document ↗
- 10-year minimum; continues as long as production occurs“issued for a 10-year period and continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities” Project Description Open the document ↗
- By whenOctober 30, 2026, from BLM ePlanning project page, its public participation period ↗. Read September 30, 2026.
- Read from PLAN’s record October 23, 2026.
Two ways to be heard on this, and both count. Comment for the legal record, then call the members who answer to you.
Comment now8 holes in the agency’s own analysis
Make these points, in your own words
The What's New section shows that an unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact was drafted and released for public comment at the same time as the draft EA, before the comment period closed on 10/30/2026.Read the point +
Releasing a predetermined significance conclusion while comments are still being collected removes any meaningful opportunity for the public to influence whether an EIS is required. NEPA requires the agency to consider public input before making its significance determination, not after it has already drafted the FONSI. The agency should withdraw the draft FONSI, hold the significance determination open until all timely public comments have been reviewed, and commit to preparing an EIS if comments identify potentially significant impacts.
The Project Description acknowledges that this lease sale spans three field offices but each prepares its own EA, which means no single document analyzes cumulative impacts across all 15 parcels and 4,053.590 acres of the combined action.Read the point +
Splitting one lease sale into three simultaneous but separate EAs artificially limits each document's cumulative-impact analysis and is the textbook definition of impermissible segmentation under NEPA. The agency should prepare a single combined analysis covering all parcels in this sale and explain why cumulative impacts across the full action were not evaluated together.
The Project Description states that once sold, the lease purchaser holds the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as necessary to explore and drill, yet the EA is the only environmental review completed before that right is permanently conveyed.Read the point +
A separate sentence in the same section confirms that site-specific NEPA analysis does not occur until the permit-to-drill stage, long after the lease is issued. The agency should explain in the EA how it can support a finding of no significant impact when the nature, location, and scale of actual ground disturbance on these parcels are entirely unknown at the time of the leasing decision.
The Project Description states that all site-specific mitigation measures and best management practices will be attached only as conditions of approval at the permit-to-drill stage, which comes after the lease has already been issued and the exclusive development right conveyed.Read the point +
An EA that defers all concrete mitigation to a future, post-leasing stage cannot evaluate whether that mitigation will be adequate to prevent significant impacts and therefore cannot lawfully support a FONSI. The agency should identify in the EA the specific mitigation measures it anticipates applying to each parcel, assess their likely effectiveness, and explain why deferred mitigation is sufficient to support no significant impact.
The Project Description states that leases run for a 10-year minimum period and then continue indefinitely as long as production occurs.Read the point +
The EA covers a 10-year lease term, but the document provides no analysis of environmental impacts during the open-ended continuation period, which could span additional decades. A lease commitment that has no fixed end date requires disclosure and analysis of long-term and reasonably foreseeable future impacts, not just impacts during the initial term. The agency should state what timeframe the EA analyzes, explain why that timeframe is sufficient, and directly address long-term impacts for leases that remain active beyond their initial term.
The Project Description states that standard lease stipulations come from the relevant BLM OFO, FFO, and CFO Resource Management Plans as amended, but neither the specific RMPs nor their effective dates or amendment history are identified anywhere in the notice.Read the point +
Without knowing which RMPs apply and whether they reflect current conditions, the public cannot verify that the governing stipulations are legally current or adequate for present resource conditions on these parcels. The agency should identify by name and amendment date each RMP that provides stipulations for these parcels so the public can assess whether the applicable requirements address present conditions.
The Project Description states that the Carlsbad Field Office parcels include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County, but the Project Location section of the notice lists only Eddy County.Read the point +
This discrepancy means the notice was not accurately targeted to residents, water users, tribes, or other stakeholders in Lea County, who may not have received adequate notice of this action. The agency should correct the project location to include Lea County, confirm that all statutory notice and consultation requirements for Lea County were met, and if they were not, restart the public comment period.
The What's New section shows the public comment period for both the draft EA and the unsigned FONSI runs from 09/29/2026 through 10/30/2026, a window of 31 days.Read the point +
Thirty-one days is not adequate time for tribal governments, water managers, technical reviewers, and affected communities across two counties to obtain the documents, review a multi-parcel EA covering three field offices, and prepare substantive comments. The agency should extend the public comment period to at least 60 days and confirm that all required statutory notification windows were observed.
Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
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 nominated parcels across all three offices
Project Description
Open the document ↗“to lease 15 nominated parcels of federal minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management”
- Carlsbad Field Office parcels split by county
Project Description
Open the document ↗“The parcels for the CFO include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County”
- Minimum lease term with indefinite continuation
Project Description
Open the document ↗“issued for a 10-year period and continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities”
- Field offices conducting separate EAs for this one sale
Source: the agency’s document ↗
The agency’s own analysis
What the notice says, and what it leaves out
Each one is a point a letter can put on the record.
The agency says
“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 an unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact was drafted and released for public comment at the same time as the draft EA, before the comment period closed on 10/30/2026.
The agency says
“This is one of 3 offices involved in this lease sale”
The Project Description acknowledges that this lease sale spans three field offices but each prepares its own EA, which means no single document analyzes cumulative impacts across all 15 parcels and 4,053.590 acres of the combined action.
The agency says
“the lease purchaser has the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as is necessary to explore and drill”
The Project Description states that once sold, the lease purchaser holds the exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as necessary to explore and drill, yet the EA is the only environmental review completed before that right is permanently conveyed.
The agency says
“Site specific mitigation measures and Best Management Practices (BMPs) would be attached as Conditions of Approval (COAs) for each proposed exploration and development activity”
The Project Description states that all site-specific mitigation measures and best management practices will be attached only as conditions of approval at the permit-to-drill stage, which comes after the lease has already been issued and the exclusive development right conveyed.
The agency says
“issued for a 10-year period and continue for as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities”
The Project Description states that leases run for a 10-year minimum period and then continue indefinitely as long as production occurs.
The agency says
“lease stipulations listed in the relevant BLM OFO, FFO, and CFO Resource Management Plan(s) (as amended) and Surface Management Agency stipulations”
The Project Description states that standard lease stipulations come from the relevant BLM OFO, FFO, and CFO Resource Management Plans as amended, but neither the specific RMPs nor their effective dates or amendment history are identified anywhere in the notice.
The agency says
“The parcels for the CFO include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County”
The Project Description states that the Carlsbad Field Office parcels include 9 in Eddy County and 2 in Lea County, but the Project Location section of the notice lists only Eddy County.
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
This fight isn’t bound to a map place in PLAN’s record yet. The notice names BLM Carlsbad Field Office administered lands, BLM Farmington Field Office administered lands, BLM Oklahoma Field Office administered lands (NM, OK); none is a unit on the threatened lands map, so there’s no place page to open or watch.
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.
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 ↗Calling your two senators and your representative is the Call door on this page.
BLM ePlanningWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
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