WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Climate at Risk from Wasteful Oil and Gas Operations in Montana

Conservation Groups File Groundbreaking Suit to Force Bureau of Land Management to Safeguard the Climate, Adopt Win-Win Solutions
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

MISSOULA, M.T. - Conservation groups today filed a groundbreaking lawsuit to safeguard the climate from oil and gas pollution in Montana. At issue is the failure of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to adopt win-win solutions that both prevent the release of harmful global warming pollution and make drilling operations more efficient and profitable.

“We have win-win solutions at hand,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate & Energy Program Director. “Not only can we reduce a potent greenhouse gas and help address global warming, we can recover a valuable product. Sadly, the Bureau of Land Management has turned its back on such sensible solutions.”

“Don’t be fooled by the cold weather! I was born and raised in Montana, and we’re feeling the impacts of global warming. BLM needs to address global warming’s impacts to our communities, land, water, and skies,” said Sarah McMillan, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center representing the conservation groups. “Unfortunately, BLM has ignored the threat of global warming to Montana and forced us to go to court.”

In Montana, oil and gas operations account for 12% of the State’s greenhouse gas emissions, emissions expected to grow 10% by 2020. These emissions consist principally of carbon dioxide and methane. Methane is particularly important to get a handle on as it’s a key greenhouse gas pollutant 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Otherwise known as natural gas, it’s also a valuable product used to heat homes and schools that shouldn’t be wasted.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) estimates that oil and gas operations are the largest human-made source of methane and account for 24% of total methane emissions in the United States. In response, the EPA established the “Natural GasSTAR” program, a voluntary program that encourages oil and gas companies to cut methane waste to reduce global warming pollution and recover value. The EPA and industry have identified over 120 technologies and practices to effectively reduce methane waste and make operations more efficient. In 2007, EPA estimated that this program avoided 37.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent, equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from approximately 6.8 million passenger vehicles or 5 million homes per year, and added revenue of nearly $648 million in natural gas sales.

“It’s amazing that BLM isn’t ensuring responsible energy development by subjecting oil and gas leases to existing, cost-effective, common-sense technologies to reduce waste and global warming pollution,” said Jennifer Goldman with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a program of Earthworks.

The lawsuit specifically challenges BLM’s oil and gas lease sales held in 2008 on April 8th, June 17th, August 26th, and November 4th. BLM, notably, did not prepare any environmental analyses to justify the lease sales, relying instead on decisions, some dating from 1981, which do not address global warming and the contribution of oil and gas production to global warming.

The conservation groups, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, protested each of the lease sales, providing BLM with information and recommendations on how to address global warming through the oil and gas leasing program. The recommendations consisted of simple actions, such as requiring all BLM oil and gas lessees to participate in EPA’s Natural GasSTAR, as well as requests for BLM to address how to mitigate and adapt to global warming through BLM’s planning process. BLM rejected these protests in four separate decisions, three issued on October 27th and the fourth issued on December 3rd.

“Our forests are turning red and the glaciers are melting in Glacier National Park. This is a call to action on global warming from all of us, including the oil and gas industry. Common sense and cost effective measures are here now and should be required by the BLM,” said Jim Jensen with the Montana Environmental Information Center.