This open-access policy enabled a major oil rush in the West, in 1909 prompting U.S. Geological Survey Director George Otis Smith to warn Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger that oil lands were being claimed so quickly they would be unavailable within a few months.

[2] Congress ratified the president's authority to set aside federally owned lands with the passing of the Pickett Act (36 Stat.

The Supreme Court further affirmed the president's constitutional power to withdraw public land from use in United States v. Midwest Oil Co., 236 U.S. 459 (1915)..

BLM evaluates areas for potential development and awards leases based on whoever pays the highest bonus during a competitive bidding period.

Under the Mineral Leasing Act and later amendments, the right to produce federally owned petroleum (oil and natural gas) is secured for ten-year periods by competitive bidding, and goes to the party paying the highest bonus.