The Bureau of Land Management is proposing sweeping changes to federal oil and gas leasing rules that would make it faster, cheaper, and easier for companies to lease public lands while reducing opportunities for public review and weakening financial safeguards meant to protect taxpayers from cleanup costs.
The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on June 24, would revise oil and gas leasing regulations across multiple parts of the Code of Federal Regulations. BLM says the rule is intended to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, several executive orders focused on “Unleashing American Energy,” and related federal deregulation directives. The agency describes the proposal as a way to reduce barriers to energy development on federal lands.
For Alaska, where federal oil and gas decisions already affect public lands, subsistence resources, Arctic communities, watersheds, and climate stability, this proposal deserves close public attention.
What the proposed rule would do
The rule would make several major changes to federal oil and gas leasing.
First, BLM would shorten public review. The agency proposes to eliminate the current 30-day scoping and 30-day public comment periods for oil and gas lease sales. It would also reduce the public notice period for competitive lease sales from 60 days to 45 days and cut the protest period from 30 days to only 10 days. That means communities, Tribes, local governments, hunters, fishers, conservation groups, and members of the public would have less time to understand what lands are being offered, evaluate impacts, gather evidence, and respond.
Second, BLM would add a new fee for longer protests. Under the proposal, protests over 50 pages would be charged $1 per page, including exhibits and attachments. BLM says the purpose is to encourage people to be clear and concise, but technical protests often require maps, scientific studies, community documentation, and legal analysis. Charging the public for detailed participation risks discouraging the very kind of evidence-based engagement that helps agencies avoid bad decisions.
Third, BLM would lower bonding requirements. Bonds are meant to ensure that companies can plug wells, reclaim lease areas, and restore lands and waters after oil and gas operations end. The 2024 rule set minimum bonds at $150,000 for an individual lease and $500,000 for statewide bonds. This proposal would drop those minimums back to $10,000 for an individual lease and $25,000 for statewide bonds. BLM itself acknowledges that previous Government Accountability Office and Interior Inspector General reports warned that outdated bond amounts can fail to provide enough incentive for companies to meet reclamation obligations, leaving taxpayers responsible when operators walk away.
Fourth, BLM would reintroduce noncompetitive leasing. Lands that receive no bids at auction could become available for noncompetitive leasing for two years. The rule would also require BLM to hold a replacement sale within 30 days when 25% or more of the acreage offered receives no bids.
Taken together, these changes would push more lands toward leasing while reducing the public’s ability to slow down, scrutinize, or challenge flawed lease sales.
Public lands need public accountability
BLM says this rule would improve oil and gas leasing by reducing barriers for energy development. But public lands are not simply inventory for industry. They are watersheds, wildlife habitat, subsistence areas, cultural landscapes, and places that future generations will inherit.
If oil and gas companies want access to public resources, they should be required to meet strong standards for public review, environmental protection, cleanup, and financial responsibility. The public should have more time, not less, to understand and respond to lease sales. Bonding should be strong enough to protect land, water, and taxpayers. And agencies should not treat community participation as an inconvenience to be streamlined away.
Take action
BLM is accepting public comments on this proposed rule through August 24, 2026. Comments should reference Docket No. BLM–2025–0037 and may be submitted through regulations.gov or by mail to the Bureau of Land Management.
Alaskans can urge BLM to:
- Protect full public participation in oil and gas lease sales.
- Reject the proposed 10-day protest period.
- Reject fees that penalize detailed, evidence-based public protests.
- Maintain stronger bonding requirements so taxpayers are not left paying for industry cleanup.
- Reject expanded noncompetitive leasing that allows companies to acquire public resources without meaningful competition.
- Keep public lands decisions public, transparent, and accountable.