Federal land management is, and always is likely to be, controversial. Just ask any Energy Bar Association member. Thanks to Enron Corp.'s woes, Houston and Washington, DC, law firms racked up record billable hours, but only for a time. Veteran litigators know blockbuster fraud cases like Enron's come and go; land disputes always pay the K Street rent.
With US congressional and presidential races ending in 2 months, the Department of the Interior seems to be defending how it administers oil and gas leases on a 24/7 basis. The big fight right now is in the voter booth, not the appeals court.
Not a mouthpiece
Last month, DOI vigorously tried to shed the industry sycophant image that environmental groups relish perpetuating.
Speaking to a relatively friendly group called the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, Rebecca Watson, DOI assistant secretary for land and minerals management, sought to reassure the outdoor enthusiasts that President George W. Bush knows how to balance wildlife conservation with energy development.
"You and your members are the experts on wildlife. When you speak, we listen," Watson said.
Watson told AWCP that she recently reminded state directors from DOI's Bureau of Land Management that regulators have the option to temporarily defer leasing while new resource management plans are being drafted.
According to the Independent Petroleum Association of America, DOI is currently rewriting 162 management plans.
Delays happen
IPAA and other oil and natural gas groups say they support appropriate environmental protection. But too often, promising fields that are in nonwilderness areas remain undeveloped because of bureaucratic red tape or lawsuits.
IPAA says that oil and gas drilling impacts less than 1% of BLM lands; the group estimates that 41 million fewer acres are available for leasing today than under the administration of Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton.
But according to a recent report by the green advocacy organization Environmental Working Group, the oil and gas industry has no reason to complain; it has enjoyed decades of access to what it calls "an enormous amount" of Western lands.
EWG says its analysis of DOI data showed that despite access to more than 200 million acres of public land over the past 15 years (1989-2003), the oil and gas industry has produced just 53 days' worth of oil consumption and 221 days' of gas.
IPAA counters that EWG is painting a simplistic picture of the oil and gas business.
"We don't lease and immediately drill. This isn't a business of rash decision-making. Reasons for not drilling on leases include litigation, protests, raising capital, lease restrictions, environmental impact studies, and competitiveness issues," IPAA said.
The association further asserts EWG ignores economic benefits from drilling and glances over environmental safeguards.
"Many lands are open, but there are more than 1,000 possible lease stipulations that could prevent development. Nearly every lease sale has been protested by activists; litigation is at an all-time high."
