The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report that found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had failed to conduct inspections on 2,100 of 3,702 high-priority wells drilled between fiscal years 2009 and 2010. During that time, more than 14,000 wells were drilled.

GAO found that while all 14 states it examined had updated their rules, BLM had not. With overlapping federal and state permitting authority, sometimes duplicative inspections occur. Repeatedly, GAO reports BLM complaints about not having enough qualified staff.

GAO makes commonsense recommendations that BLM improve oversight of field offices to 1) periodically update rules and guidance; 2) establish agreements with state regulatory agencies to avoid duplication; and 3) improve data collection and management systems so that field offices have the information they need to properly oversee development.

However, rather than actually taking these recommendations, BLM is using the report to advocate for inspection fees from oil and natural gas companies. Western Energy Alliance strongly opposes more fees on industry. Companies already return $54.12 in royalties and lease revenue for every taxpayer dollar BLM spends administering the onshore oil and natural gas program. By paying back the taxpayer 54 times over, we have already provided the government with adequate revenue for inspections, permitting, leasing, environmental analysis, general administration, and any other BLM oversight needs.

Rather, BLM should take GAO’s recommendation to heart and delegate more to the states, which are already doing a better job managing oil and natural gas development. By improving agreements with the states, BLM can avoid duplicate inspections while better ensuring high-priority wells are inspected. In fact, Western Energy Alliance will continue to advocate for revenue sharing to return to the previous 50-50 split. A few years ago, it was changed to 52-48 to provide funds to the federal government for administering the oil and natural gas program. Let’s return that 2% to the states; they can more efficiently and effectively use it to oversee oil and natural gas development.

ESA Listings of Ground-Dwelling Birds

Lesser Prairie Chicken: Recently, Western Energy Alliance joined API, the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association and others in a lawsuit challenging the Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to list the LPC as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), arguing that FWS’s decision was not based on the best available science and evidence provided did not demonstrate a listing is warranted. We assert in our filing that FWS made this listing decision without properly considering evidence that LPC range was expanding, that populations are stable in the long-term, and the unprecedented level of state and voluntary conservation efforts.

In fact, FWS cites an 84% decline in the “historic range” of the species. However, that supposedly historic number is based on decidedly non-historic speculation about where the species was located before European settlement. Besides turning the definition of “historic” on its head by applying it to something that actually predates written records, FWS has ignored actual data that shows the LPC range has tripled since 1980. FWS’s own docket demonstrates that between 1980 and 2012 LPC-occupied range increased 159%, with over 1,381,000 more acres added between 2007 and 2012 alone. The increase since 1980 totaled 10,688,000 acres, an area larger than that of nine states.

So the federal government is willing to kill jobs and economic prosperity in several states to protect a species that has seen its range increase and populations stabilize. That’s why the Alliance has filed suit. Click here to read our lawsuit, and here for an editorial in The Oklahoman.

Greater Sage Grouse: A listing of another flightless bird is threatening economic prosperity across an even broader area in the West than the LPC. The GrSG ranges across 165 million acres in 11 states. Per a settlement agreement with radical environmental groups, FWS will make a decision on whether to list the species by September of 2015. We expect it to arrive at the same conclusion as the LPC.

However, Western Energy Alliance is not just sitting back and waiting. We’re actively challenging the science, or lack thereof, that FWS is using in its decision. We’re also challenging the science BLM and the Forest Service are using as they add GrSG restrictions on ranching, mining, energy development and recreation to nearly 100 land use plans across the West. These restrictions threaten between 5,500 and 31,000 jobs, and $840 million and $5.6 billion in annual economic output.

We’re building a coalition of western public lands users to engage in a Data Quality Act challenge of the selective science the Interior Department is using. So far, the American Exploration and Mining Association, Nevada Mining Association, API, IPAA, and several counties in Colorado and Nevada have joined the coalition. If you’re interested in more information on joining the coalition and protecting jobs, economic growth and the western way of life, please contact me.

The staff of Western Energy Alliance and I are always available to answer any questions about western oil and natural gas development. We’re available at (303) 623-0987 or via email - Ursula Rick, Manager of Regulatory Affairs; Brian Meinhart, Policy Analyst; and Aaron Johnson, Communications Analyst.

Sincerely,
Kathleen M. Sgamma
VP, Government & Public Affairs
Western Energy Alliance
1775 Sherman St., Suite 2700
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 623-0987
(303) 893-0709 fax
ksgamma@westernenergyalliance.org
www.westernenergyalliance.org