A collapse in oil and gas leasing on federally-owned land in six states in the West is costing the U.S. economy jobs and federal royalties as well as limiting access to domestic energy resources, according to a recent study backed by the oil industry.
The number of new leases issued by the Bureau of Land Management is down 44 percent from 2007-2008 to 2009-2010.
There was a slight uptick in leasing activity in 2011, but the American Petroleum Institute, which released the study, says that much of the leasing last year was double-counting and that actual new leases matched a low seen in 1984.
