'Keep it in the ground' sparks legal debate over leasing

摘要

In the late 1920s, with the country awash in crude and prices plummeting, President Hooverrnordered the Interior Department to cease all oil leasing.rnThe decision -- aimed at conserving the government's mineral bounty for boom times -- wasrnlegal, according to a 1931 Supreme Court ruling that found Interior is under no obligation tornlease the federal estate.