The full story appears at thenevadaindependent.com by Daniel Rothberg

Seeking to address speculative oil leasing, Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto introduced legislation Thursday to prohibit land managers from auctioning parcels with little potential for development.

Despite having less oil drilling than other Western states, Nevada has emerged as a case study for critics of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil leasing program. In Nevada each year, speculators identify millions of acres for oil leasing, but there is little industry demand. The leases are often in places where there are poor geologic conditions and rarely enter production. 

Cortez Masto has argued that this results in the BLM, which manages about 67 percent of the land in Nevada, spending time on a program rife with speculation. It also limits how the agency can meet its mission to manage lands for multiple use from grazing to conservation.

Click here to read the full story at thenevadaindependent.com