WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Bureau of Land Management is opening nearly 196,000 acres of public land in the US state of Nevada for fossil fuel development such as fracking, the Center for Biological Diversity said in a press release.
"Despite legal protests from conservation groups, the Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 195,732 acres (304 square miles) of public lands in Nevada today for fossil fuel development," the environmental group stated in the release on Wednesday.
Fracking on public land in northern Nevada will potentially harm the wildlife and aquifers in the area, the release stated.
On April 26, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the US Department of the Interior to conduct a review of all national monuments in an effort to give control of public land back to the states.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had said the Obama administration’s use of the Antiquities Act denied the people use of areas of land traditionally utilized for farming, oil and gas exploration, timber harvest, mining and other activities.
