Biden moves to ban 20-year oil and gas leases in Nevada region, just weeks before Trump’s inauguration

The Biden administration is trying to implement last-minute restrictions oil and gas drilling in the West just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

On Monday, the Interior Department announced plans to implement a 20-year ban on oil and gas leases on 264,000 acres of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.

The administration filed a request to withdraw the acreage from any potential lease, which initiated a two-year ban on new mineral leases in the area during the approval process. The proposal now heads to a 90-day public comment period, which will be under the Trump administration.

“The Ruby Mountains are an iconic landscape with outstanding recreational opportunities and valuable fish and wildlife habitat worth preserving for the future,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “Today’s action honors the voices of tribal communities and sportsmen and conservation groups and marks another important step in protecting a precious landscape.”

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President Biden speaks at the Department of Labor on December 16, 2024 in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch)

The Biden administration’s lease cap does not impose restrictions on mining in the region.

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During the first Trump administration, the Forest Service conducted a study to determine whether 54,000 acres could be leased for oil and gas drilling in the Ruby Mountains.

The proposal was ultimately rejected in 2019 after the public comment period saw “thousands of comments from the local area, the state of Nevada and across the country” opposing the idea, according to William Dunkelberger, the supervisor forester who signed the decision.

Great Basin, Nevada, Elko County, Ruby Mountains, Lamoille Canyon. (Dukas Group/Universal Images)

Jenna Padilla, a geologist with the Humboldt-Toiyabe Ruby Mountains Ranger District at the time, said geological studies “show no oil potential” in the region, the LA Times reported in 2018.

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It is not clear if the Trump administration will consider possible leases in the region, but those actions could face roadblocks after the new proposal from the Biden administration.