EnergyNet auctions off oil and gas leases for state and federal lands—and business is booming under the Trump Administration.
As the Trump Administration has taken steps to expand oil and gas drilling, advocates have sounded the alarm against the privatization and destruction of protected open space. But one company has carved out a niche as "the platform through which this massive opening of federal lands for energy extraction will happen."
In Outside Online, Mya Frazier profiles EnergyNet, an online auction platform specializing in oil and gas leases. Thanks to exclusive contracts with state agencies and the Bureau of Land Management, leases for public land accounted for fully half the site's business—$600 million in transactions—in 2017.
In the piece, Frazier outlines the lobbying and business practices that have enabled the Texas company to make public land auctions increasingly profitable, frequent, and tucked away from public scrutiny or protest.
FULL STORY: The Private Company Selling Off America's Public Lands
Trump Administration Reopens California Public Lands to Oil and Gas Drilling
A decision by the Bureau of Land Management on Oct. 3 may reverse the outcome of a 2013 lawsuit against the Obama administration by two environmental groups that effectively halted drilling in Fresno, Monterey and San Benito counties.
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Western Conservationists, Tribes File Legal Motion to Defend Public Lands Rule
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
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Defunct Pittsburgh Power Plant to Become Residential Tower
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Trump Prompts Restructuring of Transportation Research Board in “Unprecedented Overreach”
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Amtrak Rolls Out New Orleans to Alabama “Mardi Gras” Train
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