A coalition of Democratic senators led by Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico has called on Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to keep closer tabs on the status of oil and natural gas production from federal lands that have already been leased.

In a letter Tuesday, Bingaman and 30 other senators urged Kempthorne to specifically tell producers that they are required to “diligently develop” their leases, and to require producers to submit regular reports on their progress in developing leases. The group also proposed that the secretary “exercise the full extent” of his authority with respect to lease term lengths on the Outer Continental Shelf and rental rates to ensure diligent development.

“We write to voice our concern over a significant problem in the management of federal oil and gas leases. Federal lands both onshore and on the Outer Continental Shelf that are already leased — but not producing — are our biggest opportunity to provide needed domestic oil and gas supply in the near term. However, we are concerned that the policies of the department do not result in the timely production of these resources,” wrote Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the other senators.

“It appears that the policy emphasis of this administration has been on having more lease sales, but we believe that not enough emphasis has been placed on encouraging the diligent development of federal lands once leased,” the coalition said.

“While it is generally true that leases must be produced within certain time frames, we are concerned that federal agencies are not exercising their substantial discretion in managing these leases to require production in the timeliest fashion.”

Another problem, Bingaman said, is that producers do not always bid on the leases that are offered by the federal government. Of 500 million acres recently put out for bid in the Gulf of Mexico, he noted that companies bid on only 200 million acres.

“If we want to get serious about increasing oil and gas production, a logical place to start is with the federal acres that have already been leased but are not yet producing,” he said.

Democrats contend that producers are sitting on as much as 68 million acres of leased federal lands, where they claim little or no exploration and production is taking place.

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