U.S. Department of Interior Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Feds Taking Public Comment On Oil, Gas Leasing Rules Through Sept. 22

The Bureau of Land Management proposes to adjust fees and bonding requirements to keep up with inflation.

The federal Bureau of Land Management is taking public comment on new rules for oil and gas leasing on public lands.

The agency has not updated its oil and gas leasing rules in several decades. In the meantime, the cost of remediating and capping abandoned wells has increased.

The agency proposes to adjust fees and bonding requirements to keep up with inflation.

It also wants to take steps to eliminate non-competitive bid leasing and make oil and gas companies responsible for cleanup rather than taxpayers. The agency is spending $250 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to reclaim abandoned wells nationwide.

According to the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the rules would apply to the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and the Monongahela National Forest.

The public can comment on the proposed rules through Sept. 22.

Feds to Drop Appeal of Ruling in Blair Mountain Delisting

The Department of the Interior is dropping its appeal of a ruling that said the agency shouldn’t have removed the site of the Blair Mountain labor battle from a list of historic places.

In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, the department and Secretary Sally Jewell filed a motion to drop the appeal.

In April, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington ruled the department was wrong in removing Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

A lawyer for coal companies that owned potential mining sites in the area pushed for the delisting.

Environmental groups had challenged the delisting.

In 1921, some 10,000 unionizing coal miners battled police and hired guns at Blair Mountain. Sixteen men died before miners surrendered.

W.Va. Sharing Federal Funds for Outdoor Recreation

West Virginia is sharing part of more than $43 million in federal funds to help states with parks, outdoor recreation and conservation projects.

The U.S. Department of Interior said West Virginia is getting more than $463,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The fund was established by Congress in 1964 to ensure access to outdoor recreation resources and to provide money to federal, state and local governments to purchase land, water and wetlands.

Officials say the funds enable state and local governments to establish everything from baseball fields to community green spaces. It also allows states and local governments provide public access to rivers, lakes and other water resources, expand the interpretation of historic and cultural sites, and conserve natural landscapes for public outdoor recreation.