Oil and gas operators were granted exemptions to drilling restrictions intended to protect an endangered bird species in the plains of eastern New Mexico, causing environmental groups to criticize the federal agency tasked with managing operations on public land.
Largely based on timing restrictions, meant to prevent loud noises from fossil fuel machinery during the endangered lesser prairie chicken’s peak mating season and hours, the exemptions are applied by oil companies and granted by the Bureau of Land Management’s Carlsbad Field Office.
In granting the exemptions, the BLM allowed oil and gas operations to run continuously, without having to pause during times when the species gathers in mating groups called leks.
A study by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) showed the BLM denied just one of the 76 exemptions requested between January 2020 and April 2023, almost all of which were in the Permian Basin region of southeast New Mexico in Eddy and Lea counties.
