3. Public Protest Period (3/11/2024 through 4/10/2024) 

The list of parcels, stipulations, and exhibits are available in the Sale Notice below under 3a. Lease Sale Notice and Protest Period. Additionally, the EAs, maps, and references are available below under 3b. EAs for Protest Period, 3c. GIS Shapefiles for Protest Period.

Under regulation Title 43 CFR subpart 3120.1-3, the inclusion of a parcel in a Notice of Competitive Lease Sale may be protested. Protests received that do not meet the following requirements will be summarily dismissed. 

           ♦ Submission of the protest to the BLM New Mexico State Office no later than close of business  

(4:30 PM local Mountain Time) on the last day of the protest period. 

           ♦ Submission of a hardcopy protest mailed or hand delivered to: 

                   BLM New Mexico State Office 

                  Attention: State Director 

                   301 Dinosaur Trail 

                    Santa Fe, NM 87508 

            NOTE: Hand delivered protests will be accepted by appointment only. To make an appointment, please call (505) 954-2149.

            ♦Protest may also be submitted through email at [email protected] with the subject line: “June 2024 Protest.”    

           ♦ Inclusion of the name and address of the protesting party. 

           ♦ If the party signing the protest is doing so on behalf of an association, partnership, or  

corporation (group), the signing party must reveal the relationship between the party and the group. An individual member of a group cannot make a protest in the group's name without  

authorization of the group. 

           ♦ Reference to the specific parcel number(s) being protested. 

           ♦ Disclosure of the party's interest in the parcel(s). 

           ♦ Inclusion of a statement of reason(s) to support the protest of the specific parcel(s). 

In addition, when the BLM provides an opportunity for public participation during its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis and decision-making process, a party may raise only those issues it raised in its prior participation or issues that arose after the close of the opportunity for such participation. See, e.g., Dept. of Transp. V. Public Citizen, 541 U.S 752, 764 (2008); Western Watersheds Project, 188 IBLA 234, 248-249 (2016). Where a party has not raised any objections during the public involvement opportunities during the NEPA process and does not raise any novel issues that arose after the NEPA process, the party will have forfeited the objections they raise for the first time at the protest and their protests will be dismissed. 

To the extent you submit exhibits or attachments to any submitted public comment, you must provide a summary of the attached documents, and explain why they are important for us to consider. If the submittal fails to include the requested summary, BLM may not consider any information in the exhibits or attachments during its decision-making process. 

Any protest, including names and street addresses, submitted will be made available for public review. Individuals submitting a protest may request their personal identifiable information be withheld from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, by prominently stating this request at the beginning of the protest. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All protests received from associations, partnerships, corporations (groups) or individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of a group, will be made available for public inspection in their entirety.