Gas, oil drillers put their eye on Owyhee County lands

Thursday, November 13, 2014

The state has auctioned off a series of oil and gas leases that will launch exploratory drilling operations in Owyhee County by two companies.

The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) auctioned oil and gas leases for just over 5,238 acres of state-owned lands and minerals last month, and of the 11 sites auctioned, nine are in Owyhee County.

The total amount of acreage auctioned in Owyhee County was just over 4,478 acres. All of the parcels are designated as "split lease," whereby the property owner has rights to surface use and the state owns all mineral deposits, including gas and oil.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition.

Comments

View 2 comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

This should help to continue to bring the cost petroleum products down and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and provide jobs right here in Southwest Idaho. My only real concern is that this be done safely and with an eye on protecting the environment.

-- Posted by Ronald Reagan on Thu, Nov 13, 2014, at 1:08 PM
Since their relating the recent earthquakes in the Midwest to fracking/drilling I don't think its wise to approve those processes in fault prone areas until we have more data. The only thing keeping fuel prices high is greed and collusion. ten years ago it was $1.80.

-- Posted by gmoney on Thu, Nov 13, 2014, at 3:04 PM

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration:

If you already have an account, follow this link to login
Otherwise, follow this link to register