A New Mexico district court on Tuesday said recent oil and gas auctions held by federal authorities were properly conducted, but it said the public must be allowed to participate in future sales.

New Mexico Production

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico overall ruled against WildEarth Guardians, which challenged approval by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for three oil and gas lease sales across more than 68,200 acres of federal land (No. 1:19-cv-00505-RB-SCY).

The environmental advocacy group had filed the lawsuit against Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, in his capacity as head of BLM. The American Petroleum Institute and the Western Energy Alliance joined as intervenor-defendants.

WildEarth had requested BLM’s authority to issue leases be...