Reno, Nevada — President Joe Biden’s administration announced Monday that it will prohibit oil, gas, and geothermal development in northeastern Nevada’s Ruby Mountains for the next 20 years.
The administration stated that it has submitted an application to withdraw approximately 264,000 acres (107,000 hectares) of federal lands in the area from such leasing. This initiates a 90-day public comment period on the 20-year ban and prohibits oil, gas, and geothermal development for two years during the process.
The lands would remain open for mining.
Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that the move will put an end to speculative oil leasing in the area, but he believes the Ruby Mountains’ protection is incomplete as long as mining continues.
“The Ruby Mountains have no known oil reserves, and this withdrawal does nothing to ward off the truly urgent threat of gold mining,” Donnelly told reporters.
The Biden administration stated that it acted to protect the lands at the request of Native American tribes, conservationists, hunters, and anglers.
The move came three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, during which he promised to increase oil and gas production and shift away from Biden’s emphasis on climate change.
In 2019, the United States Forest Service concluded that oil and gas leasing was not appropriate in the Ruby Mountains. Opponents of oil and gas development viewed it as a victory over the Trump administration’s push for increased energy exploration in the West.
