I don’t buy the fracking angle on this story. I’ve seen fracking in PA and I am sure the methods are not much different anywhere else. First, the impact comes from drilling and that does not take up more than an acre of of land (less roads to get to the pad). Second, fracking is an extraction technique that does not require additional space than the existing well head. What is one acre in a section of land? Particularly when hundreds of sections of land are involved?
Fracking requires water, lots of water. While much can be recycled, you still have to have enough to do the job. People in the West don’t fight over land, they fight over water.
That said, the BLM is doing the opposite of what is suggested here. They are closing millions of acres to oil and gas development, abusing their authority to proclaim “wilderness areas”. Their general behavior has been to prohibit human activity of any kind, but especially economic activity. The only exception has been green energy scams.