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Did you know that the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Federal Mineral Leasing Program always operates in the black? Portions of the resulting revenues generated through this program are distributed back to the originating state. As a result, jobs and revenues are generated at local community levels.Steven Wells, Deputy State Director, Natural Resources, said, “The energy and mineral resources program is one of the BLM-Eastern States' largest programs. We manage approximately 40 million acres of mineral estate, including substantial leasing for oil and gas. Overall, $101 million was contributed to the Federal Treasury in Fiscal_Year 2010, with $29 million of those funds distributed to State Governments."Last year, Missouri ranked second on the list of sixteen states for generated revenues from Federal onshore minerals in the East, passing the usually high ranked Arkansas. Louisiana, as always due to the mature development of oil and gas in the state, including shale natural gas, ranked #1. Arkansas was a close third, and has seen strong shale natural gas development. Interestingly, the Lead Belt in southeastern Missouri/Mississippi Valley contains the highest concentration of lead metal on the planet. The Doe Run Mine in Missouri is unique in that it has the purest lead quality in the world, and has seen strong commodity prices for metals.The BLM-Eastern States Office administered more than 3,500 Federal onshore mineral leases, covering approximately 2.25 million acres in 16 of the 31 eastern states during the 2010 Fiscal Year. For further information about the Federal Leasing Program and a schedule of oil and gas leasing sales, please visit: http://www.blm.gov.