BLM seeks comments on Montana lease environmental assessments

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 18 -- The US Bureau of Land Management requested public comments by Sept. 12 on eight environmental assessments covering decisions on 57 suspended leases in Montana and 163 previously considered parcels in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

“These assessments generally propose increasing the number of environmentally protective conditions on leases,” explained Mike Need, acting director of the US Department of the Interior agency’s Montana state office. “In the past, such protections may have been added as conditions of approval when BLM analyzed a drilling application.”

By doing this, BLM is better able to protect land, water, and wildlife resources while allowing oil and gas development to proceed in an environmentally responsible manner at appropriate locations, he continued. BLM Director Robert V. Abbey told OGJ in February the agency would be taking this approach.

As part of a lawsuit settlement, BLM suspended on Mar. 61 Montana leases it had issued in 2008. It also agreed to conduct additional environmental assessments of the parcels as part of the agreement. Lessees terminated four of the leases so the reassessment covers the other 57 suspended tracts. The eight new assessments, which can be viewed online at www.blm.gov/mt, also analyze 163 parcels that had been nominated previously, the agency said.

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