Two-Thirds of US Land Leased by Oil Industry Not Used

tsuda/CC BY-SA 2.0

Considering the continued industry calls that they need more lands opened up for oil and gas exploration this is pretty astounding: Climate Progress is highlighting a new report from the Department of Interior that finds "nearly two-thirds of acreage leased by industry lies idle."

Here's the relevant quote from the report:

More than 70 percent of the tens of millions of offshore acres currently under lease are inactive, neither producing nor currently subject to approved or pending exploration or development plans. Out of nearly 36 million acres leased offshore, only about 10 million acres are active ? leaving nearly 72 percent of the offshore leased area idle. There are approximately 26 million leased acres offshore and over 20 million leased acres onshore that are currently idle ? that is, not undergoing exploration, development, or production.

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