Agency needs more money to monitor energy development, senators say
DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter | Posted: Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:00 am
GILLETTE - Federal land managers have more than doubled the output of oil and gas drilling permits on public lands in the West in recent years, yet resources dedicated to inspection and enforcement of those activities haven't kept pace.
Wyoming is at the center of that imbalance, according to a report issued this week by the Government Accountability Office.
The findings of the agency are spelled out in the title of the report: "Increased Permitting Activity Has Lessened BLM's (Bureau of Land Management) Ability to Meet Its Environmental Protection Responsibilities."
Conservation groups say the report validates what they've been saying all along.
"D.C. has pushed to provide fat-cat industry more profit, and it is quickly coming at the expense of Wyoming's clean air, water and wildlife," said Mark Preiss, executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. "What Wyoming wants is a common-sense balance that protects our environment and creates good jobs."
The report states, "Overall, BLM officials in the majority of the field offices we visited said that staff had to devote increasing amounts of time to processing drilling permits, leaving less time to mitigate the environmental impacts of oil and gas development."
In particular, the report notes that the BLM Buffalo Field Office, which is at the center of the Powder River Basin coal-bed methane industry, met its annual environmental inspection goals only once in the past six years. Last year, the office achieved only 27 percent of its required environmental inspection goals, according to the report.
Buffalo Field Office officials insist the industry is not left unchecked. Assistant Field Manager Richard Zander said inspection and enforcement technicians simply must prioritize their field visits to ensure compliance with the rules.
"It doesn't mean we're not getting the job done," Zander said. "We're managing with the resources we have to cover those priority areas."
At the onset of the coal-bed methane boom here in 1999, the BLM Buffalo Field Office had a total staff of 23. Now, there are nearly 80 employees.
"We staffed up across the board to address cradle to grave, not just to put permits out the door," Zander said.
Reaction
Earlier this year, the Western Organization of Resource Councils issued its own study, "Law and Order in the Oil and Gas Fields," which pointed to the same imbalance and called for more inspections and stiffer fines for violators.
The group said the job of policing the oil and gas industry is largely left to private citizens and small not-for-profit groups, when the increased production has generated millions of dollars in revenue for local and federal coffers.
The GAO report was done at the request of U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
"This report sheds important new light on the administration's shortsighted approach," Lieberman said in a press release this week. "To make matters worse, the House energy bill, now in conference, would speed up the permitting process."
U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., said he agrees more funding should be applied to oversight of oil and gas activities. However, there are other opportunities to gain efficiencies.
"There needs to be better coordination between lead agencies and cooperating agencies, especially in terms of reviewing permits," Thomas said via e-mail to the Casper Star-Tribune.
For example, agencies such as the BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service often conduct independent environmental reviews.
"If the agencies conducted their review in lock-step with each other, the resulting efficiency would not only save money, but would speed up the entire process," Thomas said. "Certainly BLM could devote more resources to deal with large numbers of permit requests, but there needs to be a balance between manpower and efficiency."
Beefing up
The need for more inspection and enforcement staff is being addressed, according to Wyoming BLM officials. Just this month, the agency announced it was allocated an additional $1 million in "monitoring" funds.
"These additional monitoring funds were budgeted for Wyoming in recognition of the state's critical role in meeting the nation's energy needs," said BLM Wyoming State Director Bob Bennett. "Wyoming BLM has prioritized projects with input from local and state governments as well as input from the many constituent and citizen advisory groups that help inform the BLM's decision making process."
The additional money will concentrate on hotbeds of natural gas drilling activity in the Powder River Basin and Upper Green River Basin.
The Interior Department has reviewed the GAO report. According to the GAO, Interior has agreed with its findings and recommendations. Those recommendations are to ensure staffing "accurately" reflects the BLM's work-force plans, and to implement a fee structure to recover the cost of processing oil and gas permits.
NewsTracker
* Last we knew: A report by the Government Accountability Office said the emphasis on oil and gas permitting on federal lands has hampered the Bureau of Land Management's ability to oversee drilling activities.
* The latest: An official of the BLM's Buffalo Field Office, given particular attention in the report, insisted industry is not unchecked.
* What's next: Additional funding for more environmental oversight may be considered in the energy bill.
Want to see the report?
Get the GAO report online at http://www.gao.gov; go to "Reports and Testimony" and find GAO-05-418.
Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com.