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Comment by hedora | Hacker News Reader

I've often wondered if it is possible for environmental groups to buy oil drilling rights at auction (to prevent oil companies from buying the wells).

At the very least, it would run up the cost of the mineral rights, making the resulting oil/coal more expensive. In the best case, it would prevent drilling/mining.

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In Colorado, those rights are detached from land ownership. A state commission chooses lease parameters and, with some local consequence, those leases fund rural schools. A better system might:

- Fund schools in a different way - Permit mineral rights to be owned just like private land - Require an insurance policy for exploration in the event it destroys a well or other water source

Money is fungible. The schools aren't funded that way, it is just how it was sold to the public. Every dollar that goes into schools will be reduced by the same amount in the general budget. The same happened in my state with the Lotto.

I am pretty sure that’s not possible, as the government won’t sell the rights to just anyone, you need to qualify to participate. Making the government look foolish is not appreciated and the goal is to incentivize energy production, not enable trolls and political opponents. Besides, the rights are expensive and it is comparatively cheap to find some endangered corals or tie the whole thing up in court. The extractive industries have way more money than the greens, so best to skip the bidding war.

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