WildEarth Guardians

Monday, February 7, 2011
BLM's Waste Of Oil And Gas Resources Sparks Legal Challenge Against Federal Leases

Climate Hawks contend that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is failing to address serious, avoidable leaks caused by sloppy industry practices
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303

Missoula, Montana. Today, the Western Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthworks’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project, and WildEarth Guardians (“Climate Hawks”) filed a legal challenge in federal court against the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to lift a suspension on 25,329 acres of onshore oil and gas leases. These leases had been suspended in accord with a settlement agreement reached between the Climate Hawks and BLM in March 2010. That settlement agreement required BLM to conduct environmental reviews to determine whether the leases had properly accounted for climate change impacts. In December 2010, BLM completed the environmental reviews, using them not only to justify the decision to lift the suspension but, further, to execute an additional 53 oil and gas leases in Montana totaling 33,257 acres. Unfortunately, these reviews are deeply inadequate.

“Put simply, BLM’s decisions are unacceptable. BLM can’t just paper over serious problems regarding the waste of oil and gas resources to the atmosphere – waste that harms our deteriorating climate, reduces royalties for cash-strapped government, and reduces the amount of energy that could be sold to Montana homes, schools, and businesses,” said Jim Jensen of the Montana Environmental Information Center. “BLM must take action to protect Montana’s iconic landscapes, communities, and the important wildlife, businesses, and jobs that depend on them.”

“There’s huge opportunity here. The EPA has identified over 150 proven, cost-effective, off-the-shelf technologies and practices to prevent methane pollution from oil and gas development,” said Jeremy Nichols, director of WildEarth Guardians’ climate and energy program. “But BLM is executing the same leases it’s been executing for decades – leases whose terms and conditions have proven incapable of harnessing these technologies and practices to prevent serious leaks in the production of oil and gas resources. It’s time for BLM to change its oil and gas leases in order to promote new technologies, reduce waste, and account for climate change.”

These opportunities are very real when it comes to BLM management of oil and gas resources. The Government Accountability Office recently determined that BLM had underestimated the amount of natural gas wasted in oil and gas production. GAO further found that BLM’s policies to prevent waste are plagued by inconsistent implementation, and that these policies are severely outdated and do not account for technological advances. GAO also emphasized BLM’s lost opportunities, finding that at least 40% of natural gas leaked from onshore oil and gas production could be captured with currently available control technologies, increasing federal royalty payments by about $23 million annually and even more if natural gas prices rebound. Such action by BLM would, as GAO found, eliminate 16.5 MMTCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions, an amount equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 4 coal-fired power plants.

The methane reduction opportunities for BLM-managed oil and gas resources may, however, be far greater than GAO calculated. EPA has revised its national estimate of GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector upwards from 201.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (“MMTCO2e”) to 317 MMTCO2e. Of this total revised amount, methane pollution accounts for 288.6 MMTCO2e, equivalent to the greenhouse gases emitted by 75 coal-fired power plants.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas 105 times as strong as carbon dioxide over a 20-year time period, and 33 times as strong as carbon dioxide over a 100-year time period. Yet when responsibly produced, methane is also an energy source – i.e., natural gas – and potential ‘bridge fuel’ to assist our transition away from dirty energy and towards clean, renewable energy, such as from the wind and sun. When methane is wasted to the atmosphere, it therefore contributes to climate change, undermines natural gas’ potential advantages, reduces oil and gas royalties to cash-strapped governments, and produces less energy.

Scaled nationally, eliminating 40% of the oil and gas sector’s methane emissions, as GAO indicated was feasible in the production subsector, would eliminate the greenhouse gas pollution emitted by 30 coal-fired power plants. Targeting action to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas would therefore promote significant, win-win solutions for our intertwined climate and energy problems.

“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 lease our public oil and natural gas resources, those leases should be subject to the best available technologies and practices to reduce climate pollution and provide a host of other public benefits. BLM just hasn’t kept this idea front-and-center.”

“With Congress captured by parochial interests and unable to exercise meaningful leadership on climate and energy policy, it falls to citizens to step into the breach,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, the Climate Hawks’ attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “This lawsuit is designed to spark real action by BLM to ensure responsible oil and gas development. If we can get BLM to take real action in Montana, that action will benefit the whole country.”