The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said seven state offices collectively generated $170.7 million in bonus bids from oil and natural gas lease sales during 3Q2017. The sales covered 218 parcels consisting of more than 134,800 acres. New Mexico had the largest sale with more than $130 million, while Wyoming garnered $38.7 million. Other states generated under $1 million each. The 20 of 29 scheduled onshore lease sales in 2017 have brought in $316.2 million in bonus bids, versus 20 in 2016 that produced $192.5 million. BLM officials said oil and gas development on federally managed lands in the last fiscal year supported 201,000 jobs and $42 billion in economic output.

Antero Resources Corp. has awarded a 10-year, $70 million contract to the North American subsidiary of Paris-based Veolia Environment SA to handle sludge waste at the water treatment and reuse facility under construction in West Virginia. Veolia was selected in 2015 to build and operate the facility, set for service by the end of the year. The $275 million facility is designed to use Veolia’s evaporation and crystallization technology to treat flowback and produced water for reuse, with 95% of Antero’s wastewater to be treated at the 60,000 barrel/day facility in Ritchie County.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Bill (AB) 20 into law, directing boards of state public employee retirement systems to report by April 1 regarding any investments they have in the Dakota Access Pipeline, which carries crude oil from North Dakota. The law does not mandate divesting holdings, but asks boards to “consider factors related to tribal sovereignty and indigenous tribal rights.” Brown also signed AB 1197 into law, making it easier to authorize a spill management team for responses to oil spills, while AB 1649 requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate with federal, state and local agencies “to protect the public, fence-line communities and refinery workers from the risks associated with refinery operations.”