Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), through its Center for American Prosperity & Energy (CAPE), filed comments supporting a proposed amendment to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Vernal Resource Management Plan that would open eligible federal oil and gas minerals beneath Utah’s Ouray National Wildlife Refuge to leasing and production.
The proposal would make fewer than 5,200 acres of federal minerals available for potential development while prohibiting surface occupancy within the refuge. This approach could allow energy companies to recover underground resources through directional or horizontal drilling from outside the refuge, preserving the refuge’s surface while allowing access to its mineral resources.
MSLF supports this approach and is urging federal agencies to establish clear leasing terms, coordinate required approvals, and avoid unnecessary regulatory barriers that could prevent economically viable development.
Join the Fight
Since 1977, MSLF has fought to protect private property rights, individual liberties, and economic freedom. MSLF is a nonprofit public interest legal foundation. We represent clients pro bono and receive no government funding. Make your 100% tax deductible contribution today and join the fight.
Why MSLF Filed Comments
Under the existing resource management plan, the federal minerals covered by the proposal are closed to oil and gas leasing. MSLF filed comments to support removing that restriction for legally available acreage and establishing a practical path toward production.
The letter emphasizes that environmental protection and responsible energy development can coexist. A no-surface-occupancy requirement provides a way to protect the refuge’s surface while allowing the underlying minerals to be developed, provided that drilling can occur lawfully and commercially from outside its boundaries.
However, opening the acreage to leasing will not automatically guarantee production. Federal agencies must resolve questions about which minerals are legally available, establish workable lease conditions, and coordinate the approvals required for development. MSLF is advocating for those decisions to be made efficiently and transparently, without unnecessary delays or duplicative reviews.
What MSLF Is Asking the Agencies to Do
MSLF’s comments focus on five key priorities:
- Open eligible federal minerals to leasing. BLM should remove the existing resource management plan closure for minerals that can legally be leased and establish a clear, durable framework for development.
- Preserve commercially viable access to underground resources. The agencies should allow flexibility in drilling methods, well placement, and infrastructure outside the refuge while maintaining the no-surface-occupancy requirement and applicable environmental protections.
- Coordinate federal approvals. BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should identify required authorizations early, share information, coordinate reviews, and avoid requiring companies to repeatedly submit the same information or undergo duplicative analysis.
- Account for the economic benefits of development. The environmental review should consider potential domestic energy production, federal revenue, local employment, and investment, as well as the economic costs of continued closure and unnecessary permitting delays.
- Keep environmental review focused and efficient. Agencies should rely on existing information when adequate, tailor additional requirements to demonstrated concerns, and avoid unnecessary studies or restrictions that do not meaningfully improve environmental protection.
MSLF also urges the agencies to evaluate the proposal based on available evidence and applicable legal standards, rather than automatically requiring a more extensive environmental review than the law demands.
Why This Matters
Federal mineral resources can have economic value even when they lie beneath protected lands. When development can occur from outside a protected area, restrictions on surface access do not necessarily need to prevent the recovery of underground resources.
The proposed amendment offers an opportunity to balance those interests at Ouray National Wildlife Refuge. By allowing eligible minerals to be leased while preserving the refuge’s surface, the agencies could make additional domestic energy resources available without permitting surface occupancy within the refuge.
But that opportunity depends on more than a change in policy. If lease conditions, overlapping agency requirements, or prolonged approval processes make drilling impractical, the minerals could remain inaccessible in practice even if they are technically open to leasing.
MSLF’s comments seek to prevent that outcome by encouraging a predictable, commercially workable framework that allows lawful development to move forward. The letter also asks the agencies to consider the consequences of continued closure, including potential lost energy production and, where supported by evidence, the drainage of oil or gas from federal minerals that remain unavailable for development.
More broadly, this effort reflects CAPE’s commitment to protecting economic liberty, advancing domestic energy production, and ensuring that government restrictions do not unnecessarily prevent the productive use of natural resources.
