Key Takeaways
The Biden Administration is moving to prevent oil, gas, and geothermal leasing for two decades on over a quarter million acres of Nevada federal lands in the Ruby Mountain area where interest has been expressed.
Nevada is over 80% owned by the federal government, but very little federal leasing has occurred, and little is known about its hydrocarbon potential.
The proposal does not affect well-established mining, which is an important part of the state’s economy.
Biden’s latest move continues a string of similar actions including ending coal leasing in America’s largest coalfields—the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana—and relentless antipathy against activities in energy-rich Alaska or the U.S.’s 1.76 billion acres of federal offshore Outer Continental Shelf acreage.
The Biden administration has moved to prevent oil, gas, and geothermal leasing for 20 years on 264,000 acres in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, responding to requests from Native American tribes and environmentalists. The ban, which would still allow mining, starts a 90-day public comment period, which will stretch into the first months of President Trump’s second term. The application, however, prevents oil, gas, and geothermal exploration, development, and production on that land for two years during the implementation process. In 2019, the U.S. Forest Service concluded oil and gas leasing was not suitable in the Ruby Mountains. The mountain range is popular with hunters, fishermen, and conservationists and has no known oil reserves. However, developers have not explored the range, that leasing would allow.
According to the Forest Service, interest in a lease covering more than 137 square miles within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest was submitted anonymously through the Bureau of Land Management, which holds mineral rights under public land, in 2019. Filings are anonymous until a lease sale occurs. It is the second time a lease has been sought in the Ruby range. The prior request covered more than 78 square miles between Harrison Pass and Lamoille Canyon in Elko County and was met with thousands of letters of objection from the public with little support. The Forest Service rejected this request, citing widespread public opposition.
The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest spans nearly 10,000 square miles, stretching from the far northeastern corner of Nevada near Jarbidge to the southern reaches near Las Vegas. Statewide, approximately 260 employees, including 40 based in the Mountain City Ranger District in the northeast, assess various proposals related to activities such as hard rock mining, grazing, and recreation. Despite the federal government owning more than 80% of Nevada’s land, there has been limited leasing for oil and gas exploration, and few wells have been drilled to evaluate the state’s hydrocarbon potential.
In addition to the Ruby Mountain ban, the U.S. Department of the Interior has announced permanent protections in Grand Teton National Park and facilitated a $100 million acquisition of a 640-acre parcel of land from Wyoming. Before this transaction, the land was the largest unprotected area within the park. This property serves as a crucial migration corridor for the pronghorn, an antelope-like species that roams from Canada to parts of Texas.
These actions by President Biden directly contrast with the energy policies proposed by President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to expand oil and gas production and move away from Biden’s emphasis on climate change and “clean energy.” Trump’s energy policies for federal lands will be overseen by Doug Burgum, his nominee for Secretary of the Interior, who will also head Trump’s National Energy Council.
This is not the first instance of Biden taking steps to limit fossil fuel extraction on federal lands. His administration has imposed a ban on new coal leases in the Powder River Basin, halting coal production there after 2041. The Powder River Basin is the largest coal-producing region in the U.S., covering much of northeast Wyoming and parts of southeast Montana. It produces subbituminous coal, which fuels electric generators and accounts for 40% of the nation’s thermal coal output. The ban on new leases will prevent the extraction of 48.12 billion short tons of coal across 413,250 acres in the basin.
The Biden administration has also proposed stricter regulations for oil and gas drilling on over 6,500 square miles of federal land in the West, citing the need to protect the declining Greater Sage Grouse—a chicken-sized bird known for its intricate mating rituals. The Interior Department’s plan aims to strengthen protections established during the Obama-Biden era in 2015, which already limited energy development across 226,000 square miles of grouse habitat in 11 states. The new measures would close “loopholes” that previously allowed energy exploration in areas deemed crucial to the bird’s survival. Under the proposal, drilling would only be permitted on sites located outside of designated protected areas, preserving four million acres from surface-level development to safeguard the sage grouse population, which are hunted in seven states. State officials argue that the bird’s management would be more effective if handled by local wildlife agencies rather than imposed from Washington, D.C.
The Biden administration has also scaled back leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), reducing the available land to the smallest allowable under federal law—400,000 acres—and imposed stringent regulations that discourage potential bidders. A provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act mandates a lease sale in ANWR before Biden’s term ends. The Inupiat Eskimo people of Alaska’s North Slope rely on this lease sale for jobs and economic stability. However, the Biden administration’s heavy-handed regulations have made the sale less appealing to energy companies, a move that critics argue benefits environmentalist groups opposed to U.S. oil production. The January 2021 ANWR lease sale, for example, was largely unsuccessful, leading some to claim that the potential oil resources in the region, which could rival those of nearby Prudhoe Bay, hold little appeal.
Additionally, the administration has removed 13 million acres from the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, reduced the area available for leasing in a New Mexico auction by more than 3,000 acres, and has conducted the fewest offshore oil and gas lease sales in the history of the program. These policies have led to fewer acres being leased for oil and gas exploration than under any president since World War II. Critics argue that these actions jeopardize national security, lead to job losses, and contribute to higher oil and gasoline prices for American consumers.
Conclusion
The Biden administration is at it again, limiting federal land for oil and gas exploration, despite President-elect Trump’s plan to make the United States energy dominant. Biden is banning oil, gas, and geothermal development in the Ruby Mountain area of Nevada for 20 years and has announced permanent protections in Grand Teton National Park and the $100 million purchase of a 640-acre parcel of land from Wyoming. The ban for the Ruby Mountain area will have a 90-day public solicitation that will run into the first few months of President Trump’s next term. President Biden has been on the warpath—limiting the use of federal land for fossil energy purposes and making it harder for the Trump administration to increase production by having it deal with regulatory red tape. Cutting off energy opportunities to deny Americans access may have intellectual appeal to those who are comfortably wealthy, but for those who read utility bills, watch their grocery bill, and worry about future opportunities for their children, it is needlessly cruel.
