WildEarth Guardians

Monday, May 17, 2010
Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reforms Fall Short of Separating Fox from Henhouse

WildEarth Guardians Calls on Secretary Salazar to Hold Bureau of Land Management to Same Reforms as Minerals Management Service
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x1303

Denver--WildEarth Guardians today blasted oil and gas leasing reforms announced by the Department of Interior, criticizing the proposed measures as falling short of resolving an inherent conflict of interest in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that pits environmental protection against economic gain.

“While the Interior Department is drastically reforming the Minerals Management Service, the Secretary is still allowing the fox to guard the henhouse at the Bureau of Land Management,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “These reforms ignore the fundamental dysfunction with onshore oil and gas leasing and drilling: that the agency charged with protecting our air, our water, and our wildlife is the same agency pressured to prioritize the recovery of oil and gas.”

At issue is the fact that the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 253 million acres in the United States and administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate, is required to prioritize and expedite the leasing and drilling of oil and gas on public lands under Section 362 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Passed under the Bush Administration, the Energy Policy Act also specifically identified seven pilot Bureau of Land Management Field Offices where agency staff were required to significantly streamline the processing of oil and gas leases and drilling permits. According to the agency, the oil and gas industry is to expect “More of a commitment by all Federal agencies to support oil and gas development” in pilot Field Offices. See BLM Presentation to Minerals Management Service Industry Awards Workshop. The seven pilot Field Offices are located in Rawlins, WY, Buffalo, WY, Miles City, MT, Farmington, NM Carlsbad, NM, Grand Junction/Glenwood Springs, CO, and Vernal UT.

The impacts of prioritizing drilling has been most obvious in terms of air quality in the Rocky Mountain West. Many areas of the West likely to be designated as "nonattainment" under the Clean Air Act due to violations of ground-level ozone standards recently proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlap with major oil and gas producing areas, including the seven pilot Field Offices. Ozone, the main ingredient of smog, forms when emissions from drill rigs, engines, and production activities react with sunlight. A map showing the overlap of potential ozone nonattainment areas and major oil and gas fields is available here. A recent study found that there is a "clear potential for oil and gas development to negatively affect regional O3 [ozone] concentrations in the western United States, including several treasured national parks and wilderness areas in the Four Corners region." See Rodriguez, et al.

Today’s reforms would require a more thorough review of impacts and provide additional opportunities for public involvement and consultation. However, the reforms do not alter the mandates under the Energy Policy Act that oil and gas leasing and drilling receive priority attention, particularly in the pilot Field Offices.

The Interior Department’s reforms were announced online here.