WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, March 18, 2010
BLM Agrees to Suspend 41,000 Acres of Oil and Gas Leases to Protect Climate

WildEarth Guardians' Reaches Agreement with BLM to Address Global Warming Impacts of Oil and Gas Drilling
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x1303

Missoula, Montana-In a settlement approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana filed between conservation groups and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, BLM has agreed to take another look at four separate decisions, reached in 2008, to issue 61 oil and natural gas leases covering over 30,000 acres in Montana to evaluate climate change concerns. The oil and natural gas leases would be suspended pending the completion of that review process.

“It may seem unlikely, but there are a host of proven, cost-effective technologies and practices which reduce climate pollution, increase royalties to federal and state governments, and keep oil and gas resources in the pipeline for use by homes, schools, and businesses,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “We’re pleased that BLM has decided to carry out further environmental review of these leases. While our agreement with BLM is a modest first step, we hope it signals a broader commitment by BLM across the American West to reduce climate pollution from federally-authorized oil and gas decisions.”

The lawsuit was filed by the conservation groups in December 2008 on the heels of the Bush Administration’s final set of oil and natural gas lease sales for Montana. In May 2009, the lawsuit overcame a key hurdle when the district court ruled that an order by the Secretary of the Interior requiring BLM to consider climate change could be enforced against BLM. The conservation groups proceeded to move to the merits of the case, emphasizing concerns with methane, which sparked the discussions which lead to the settlement agreement.

Methane was emphasized because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) estimates that oil and natural gas operations are the largest human-made source of methane and account for 24% of total methane emissions in the United States. Methane is a particularly potent climate pollutant more than 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide. The near-term potency of methane from oil and natural gas development suggests that the deployment of greenhouse gas pollution control technologies and practices can have an immediate benefit to our climate - a benefit that is cost-effective, increases royalties for federal and state governments, and keeps energy in the pipelines for consumers.

Indeed, EPA has already established the “Natural Gas STAR” program (see here) to encourage oil and natural gas companies to cut methane waste to reduce climate pollution and recover value. EPA has identified over 120 technologies and practices to effectively reduce methane waste and make operations more efficient. For calendar year 2008, EPA estimated that this program avoided 46.3 million tons of CO2 equivalent, equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from approximately 6 million homes per year, and added revenue of nearly $802 million in natural gas sales - revenue which translates into additional royalties to federal and state governments for the American public. Despite these economic and environmental gains, BLM has not considered these proven technologies and practices in its planning documents and does not yet require them as a condition of owning a federal oil and natural gas lease.

“We’re conveying a common-sense idea: if you’re going to develop oil and natural gas, do it right!” said Gwen Lachelt, the Director of Earthwork’s Oil & Gas Accountability Project. “Where it’s appropriate to develop our public oil and natural gas resources, that development should be subject to the best available technologies and practices to reduce climate pollution. BLM should keep this idea front-and-center as it takes another look at these leases.”

“With Congress failing to exercise meaningful leadership on climate policy, it falls to citizens to step into the breach,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, the conservation groups’ attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “That’s why we brought this lawsuit and that’s why we’re very pleased that BLM came to the negotiating table and agreed to suspend these leases to take a hard look at our concerns. We hope that this agreement is the first step of many for BLM to ensure responsible oil and gas development in the face of climate change and tap into our country’s most important resource: American ingenuity and can-do know how.”

Joining in the agreement were the Montana Environmental Information Center and the Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

View the Order Settlement (PDF)