The Constitution is clear. Only a liar says it authorizes the federal government to take and/or manage property within the United States for reasons other than “the seat of the government, forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings”. Of course, “other needful Buildings” is not specific. However, sane people understand that the Constitution is talking about either military use (military bases) or the buildings necessary to fulfill the other federal duties (post offices).
We can infer from the The Federalist Papers and the ratification debate that the States would not have ratified the Constitution if it gave the federal government the power to come into a State and take control of land, creating national parks, national monuments, or national forests, for example.
Therefore, there should be no discussion about whether companies can drill for oil on “federal property.” There should be no “federal property.” In fact, Federalist Paper #45 [paragraph 9]* says that “State powers extend to everything that, in the ordinary course of affairs, concerns the lives, liberties, property of the people, internal order, improvement, and the prosperity of the State.”
The Constitution cannot be faulted for the federal land grab that has been detrimental to the economy and well-being of the States. The States have allowed this invasion of unconstitutional federal power. To further highlight how out of kilter the federal government’s role has become, it is doing a better job keeping United States citizens off federally owned land than protecting our borders from illegal entry, yet another cost of ignoring the Constitution.
The importance of private property to the Founding Fathers and the people who ratified the Constitution cannot be overstated. “Property rights originate from the people. But men's abilities are diverse, creating an insurmountable obstacle to equality of acquisitions. Protection of these abilities is government's primary function.” Federalist Paper #10 [paragraph 6]*
*The Federalist Papers: Modern English Edition Two, Webster, 2008
Wrong. The Constitution quite clearly says that "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." With a couple of exceptions, the western states were formed out of territory belonging to the United States. Most of that land was never relinquished by Congress. It still belongs to the United States, and Congress still has constitutional authority to regulate it.