Oil exploration in this part of Nevada soon to be ruled out for 20 years

Originally published in Review Journal | Dec. 30, 2024

By Alan Halaly

As President Joe Biden nears the end of his time in office, his administration is proposing lasting protections for a mountain range commonly referred to as the “Swiss Alps of Nevada.”

Even though there’s no concrete scientific evidence of the presence of oil, the U.S. Forest Service has eyed the Ruby Mountains for oil, gas and geothermal leasing for exploration in the past — plans the Trump administration’s Forest Service decided to retract in 2019. Following a 90-day public comment period, the Ruby Mountains will be unavailable for any new leases for 20 years because of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s decision to issue what’s known as a withdrawal.

The range, which straddles Elko and White Pine counties and sits on the ancestral lands of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, is considered a crown jewel of wild Nevada. Residents rallied a county planning board to shoot down a ski resort proposal for the area earlier this year.

“The Ruby Mountains are cherished by local communities for their scenic value, cultural heritage, numerous wildlife and benefit to the local economy through a thriving outdoor recreation industry,” Haaland said in a statement on Monday. “Today, we are taking an important and sensible step to pause new oil and gas leasing to ensure that we have the science and public input necessary to inform proposed protections of the Ruby Mountains area for future generations.”

However, some believe the more present threat to wildlife and water resources is industry pressure to mine its gold deposits.

Gold mining is a flourishing and wildly profitable industry in the Silver State, including at the Bald Mountain Mine immediately south of the Ruby Mountains. The Biden administration granted the mine a nearly 3,500-acre expansion in August.

“Gold mining in the area has already harmed mule deer migration corridors and greater sage-grouse nesting sites,” stated Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that led opposition to oil leasing under Trump. “Until the mining industry’s further expansion there is prevented, the protection of the Ruby Mountains has to be considered incomplete.”

Prospectors have established dozens of active mining claims in the Ruby Mountains, according to Nevada Division of Minerals data.

The only way to forever rule out the Ruby Mountains from oil, gas and geothermal leasing is through Congress.

Following community outcry, Nevada’s congressional delegation began to champion the cause in Washington, D.C. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., called on the Biden administration to administer a withdrawal last year. They introduced the Ruby Mountains Protection Act in hopes of making the withdrawal permanent, as well.

“This is a historic step,” Cortez Masto said in a statement regarding Monday’s announcement. “I’ll keep working to pass my Ruby Mountains Protection Act to ensure these protections are permanent.”

Many of the grassroots organizers who advocated against the leasing of the Ruby Mountains showed their support in statements on Monday, including the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition, the Nevada Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the Nevada Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

But still, some skepticism remains.

Olivia Tanager, director of Nevada’s Humboldt-Toiyabe chapter of the Sierra Club, said she believes pressure from the gold industry is a main reason new mining claims weren’t also suspended in the withdrawal.

If Nevada were a country, it would be the fifth-largest gold-producing country in the world, according to the Nevada Mining Association. That’s about three-fifths of all of the United States’ gold production.

“The price of gold is so high right now, and money talks, especially in Nevada,” Tanager said.