The sales, which will continue on Thursday and cover eight states, were viewed as a test of oil industry demand for federal acreage amid soaring fuel prices and calls from President Joe Biden to increase domestic output.
Biden's Interior Department had attempted to suspend the federal oil and gas leasing program to study its environmental and climate impacts but was blocked by a federal judge. A coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, sought to invalidate the sales by suing the Biden administration as the Wyoming lease sale started on Wednesday.
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