Trump plan to expand oil and gas leasing in West draws mostly a big yawn from industry
ELKO, Nev._During his years in the White House, President Barack Obama erected barriers to oil and gas development on the West's public lands. President Donald Trump, mindful of the energy industry's view that those rules were too restrictive, has set his sights on dismantling them.
Yet for all the president's support, federal lease auctions have attracted far less excitement than expected from oil and gas producers, even in heavily drilled areas of Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah and Colorado. In other Western states, and in Alaska, producers greet most new auctions with yawns.
In March, Trump issued an executive order to unshackle the energy industry from "regulatory burdens" and
