Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 9 -- The US Bureau of Land Management will hold two public "listening sessions" Nov. 14 in Denver on the pilot program to improve federal oil and gas permit coordination.
The program, which has been under way for a year, was mandated under Section 265 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. It operates in seven BLM offices, including in the Glenwood Springs-Grand Junction area in Colorado.
"These sessions will provide an opportunity to hear perspectives on improving our [drilling permit applications] processing and inspection and enforcement activities on permitted operations," said BLM Colorado State Director Sally Wisely.
The 2005 EPA requires the secretary of the interior to report results of the pilot project to Congress by August 2008 and to make recommendations to the president about its possible implementation in BLM offices nationwide.
"We want to know how well the public feels we're doing with this effort to meet the nation's energy needs while also practicing good stewardship and requiring operators to do the same," Wisely said.
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