Congress is expected to resume negotiations on a sweeping energy bill this month. On the table are well-publicized items of interest to industry. These include a House proposal to lease a limited portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and a Senate clean fuels plan to dramatically boost fuel ethanol demand. But many other priorities don't need Congress's blessing. Among President George W. Bush's directives in a May 2001 energy blueprint is better access to energy-rich public land.
Bush officials said then that, since the federal government owns about 31% of the nation's land, it's reasonable for the Department of the Interior to play a major role in boosting energy production in "appropriate" places. The White House called on Interior to expedite permits "and other federal actions necessary for energy-related project approvals on a national basis." But what is considered an "appropriate" place remains a fiercely debated topic, even in states that rely on oil and gas production for revenue.
Challenges remain
The White House report acknowledged that certain exploration and production activities create environmental concerns.
But officials maintained that those effects can often be minimized or avoided through improved technology or by timing exploration and operation activities around wildlife habitat schedules.
Many environmental groups, however, are not persuaded by this argument. There are pending lawsuits throughout the Lower 48 to block drilling in areas where leases have already been issued; some have met with success, while others have not.
One area that has been the subject of intense public debate is coalbed methane production, which often occurs in but is not limited to the Rocky Mountains region.
In a setback for environmental groups, a federal district judge in Montana said Aug. 26 that water from coalbed methane production is not considered a pollutant under federal clean water laws. Green activists say they will appeal the decision.
But industry still has challenges ahead. According to the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming recently filed a motion to intervene in an appeal by Marathon Oil Co. that seeks to reverse a decision by the Interior Board of Land Appeals that invalidated three of the company's leases in the Powder River basin. IBLA ruled earlier this year that the leases, totaling 2,500 acres, were invalid because the Bureau of Land Management issued them without conducting proper environmental reviews.
Future prospects
The Bush administration, however, clearly still wants to encourage coal- bed methane production: The Environmental Protection Agency recently touted its benefits in power generation. EPA predicts the proliferation of electric power projects that use coalbed methane from abandoned mines. EPA said that most of the 36 bcf of coal mine methane produced today is put directly into the natural gas system, although 9 bcf is vented into the atmosphere.
EPA said this unutilized source is typically medium-quality gas that can either be processed to meet pipeline quality standards or used directly in other applications, including electric power generation.