Reuters
The Trump administration abruptly postponed an auction of oil and gas leases in New Mexico that had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday morning, according to a government website about the sale.
Source: Reuters
No further information about the delay was provided. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees such sales, was not immediately available for comment.
WildEarth Guardians and seven other environmental groups filed a formal protest to the BLM against the sale, arguing the coronavirus outbreak reduced opportunities for public comment on the auction.
Groups have protested other sales this year too, saying low oil prices are weakening demand and resulting in poor returns for public coffers. The government declined to postpone those sales.
BLM had been scheduled to offer 94 parcels on more than 45,000 acres (18,211 hectares) in New Mexico and Texas via an online auction. It would have been the first such sale since U.S. crude oil futures briefly plunged below zero for the first time in history a month ago due to fallout from the global health crisis.
