WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has finalized revisions to its federal oil and gas leasing regulations for National Forest System lands, according to an announcement released Tuesday.

The revised rule updates and streamlines procedures governing oil and gas development on national forests and grasslands, with the stated goal of improving coordination between the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which manages subsurface mineral resources. The changes establish a single leasing decision point and reduce duplicative environmental reviews, allowing permits and lease applications to be processed more efficiently.

According to the USDA, the revisions are intended to address longstanding backlogs and improve response times for industry requests while maintaining federal oversight of public lands.

The rule applies to oil and gas development on National Forest System lands, where the Forest Service oversees surface resources and the Bureau of Land Management manages mineral estates. Currently, more than 5,100 federal oil and gas leases cover about 3.8 million acres of national forest land nationwide, with roughly half of those leases producing oil or gas.

The updated regulation has been published in the Federal Register and is now in effect