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WASHINGTON
- September 30 - Statement by Dave Alberwerth, Director, Bureau of Land Management Program, The Wilderness Society.
The oil and gas provisions of the House-Senate Energy Conference Committee draft released on September 29, 2003, by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Representative Billy Tauzin (R-3/LA) establish oil and gas development as the dominant use of the federal public lands.
All other values -- water quality, the property rights of ranchers and farmers on split estate lands, wildlife and wildlife habitat protection, the preservation of wild lands, the protection of cultural, historical and recreational values, for example -- take a back seat to oil and gas development on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and on the national forests.
This dominant-use philosophy is at odds with the multiple-use philosophy of public land management that has governed our public lands for over decades. It is predicated on the false assumption that there are "too many environmental restrictions and impediments" to oil and gas drilling on our western public lands. And it is manifested in various provisions of the draft conference bill, which, taken together, represent a radical break with the balanced use and protection policies Congress has attempted to achieve for decades in passing legislation related to the management and protection of the lands owned by all Americans.
For example, provisions of the bill would:
Prohibit drilling fluids from being considered pollutants of drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act (Sec. 327, p.54)
Exempt oil and gas activities, including construction of drill pads, from the clean water act (Sec. 328, p.55)
Allow the Interior Secretary to designate utility and pipeline corridors across public lands without seeking public input through a the land use planning process (Sec. 351, p.89)
Allow applicants for federal drilling permits to take up to two years to comply with application requirements, but require the BLM only a few days to approve drilling permit applications (Sec. 349, p.79).
Establish an "Office of Federal Project Coordination" within the White House intended to expedite the permitting and completion of energy projects on federal lands, and override environmental safeguards (Sec. 341)
Require the United States Geological Survey to identify various "restrictions and impediments" to the development of federal oil and gas deposits (Sec. 345, p.71) These "restrictions and impediments" include policies and regulations designed to protect fish and wildlife, wild lands, and cultural and historical values on the public lands. [This is an attempt to revise the earlier EPCA report released in January, that found only a comparatively small amount of federal gas resources off-limits to development under existing statutes and regulations.]
Allows oil and gas lessees to be compensated from royalties for their costs of complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (Sec. 326, p. 53)
Puts the Department of Energy, an agency with no experience or expertise in public land management, in charge of implementing Executive Order 13211, which requires federal land management agencies, before "taking any action" to determine whether such actions would have "a significant adverse effect" on energy development (Sec. 346, p.73)
Establishes a perpetual "pilot program" for expediting the approval of energy projects in the Rocky Mountain region (Secs. 347, 348, p. 74-78)
Establishes a $500 thousand DOE loan program to assist in the development of "unconventional" gas projects – such as coalbed methane, which is a well-developed and extremely lucrative business to be in these days (Sec. 335, p.59)
These and other provisions will not secure America’s energy future. They will instead secure the profits of America’s wealthiest industry sector -- the oil and gas industry, and should be opposed by all Americans who value the environmental values of our nation’s public lands.
Congress really should not pass legislation containing such provisions. As we more forward into the 21st Century, America deserves a 21st century energy policy -- not the buffet of special interest provisions contained in the bill now being written in the energy conference committee.
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