In the first public forum of the Rocky Mountain Energy Council (RMEC) on Wednesday, the Bush administration panel heard recommendations from industry, environmental and ranching groups on how to — or not to –streamline the permitting process to speed up drilling in the oil and gas-rich basins of the Rockies.

The council, part of a broad state-federal partnership charged with reducing bureaucracy, held its first public meeting in Lakewood, CO, Wednesday as it studies the oil and gas basins of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and New Mexico. With the most emotional testimony from environmentalists and ranchers, Robert E. Roberts, who is also regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, attempted to assuage the concerns for all of the interests.

“The council is not an end run around environmental requirements,” said Roberts. “Early collaboration and consensus will help resolve problems before they become set in concrete.”

What the RMEC wants to do is find common ground among a large and vocal group of stakeholders, which include not only producers but also ranching interests, native tribes and environmentalists. Many of those opposed to opening up more land for drilling have stymied the permitting process through appeals and lawsuits, and have been relatively successful: it now takes about six months to obtain a drilling permit, unlike 45 days just two years ago. And energy executives testified that the permitting delays are damaging not only their business plans, but also their financing.

Greg Schnake, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, noted that the “time, cost and delayed production from litigation strategies designed to obstruct natural gas development is staggering.” Environmentalists were proponents of natural gas 10 years ago, he said, but “now, after our local power providers and rate payers have invested billions in new and efficient gas turbine technology, these groups have shifted their anti-growth strategies to the West in an attempt to deprive energy consumers of economical and ready supplies of clean natural gas.”

RMEC panel member Jack Belcher, who works on the House Resource Committee, added that the Rockies offer “enormous energy resources that can help address the energy crisis. “But numerous bureaucratic impediments exist at the federal and state levels that are slowing down or stopping energy projects in the region.”

The American Petroleum Institute’s (API’s) 400-plus oil and gas companies believe that the Rockies hold the best chance for the United States to produce more natural gas quickly. Red Cavaney, president of API, said that the region is the “most critical near-term area,” adding that a streamlined permitting process could bring more gas to U.S. markets within two years.

However, Pete Morton, a resource economist with the Wilderness Society, warned that the council needs to listen to environmental concerns, not just industry. “The energy industry, the administration, all want to paint activists as fringe elements and downplay the diversity of voices,” he said. “The council’s proposal to streamline energy projects in the Rockies just means cutting out the public. The administration wants to cut out anyone who has a different opinion because it has a pre-determined solution: drill more wells.”

The RMEC plans to hold public forums throughout its focus region to listen to stakeholders from both sides in the next few months as decisions are made on the overall drilling process throughout the Rockies. Its findings will be part of efforts by other agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is in charge of issuing the drilling permits.

In early August, the BLM issued new policies to direct its state and field offices on how to incorporate the findings of a comprehensive oil and gas inventory into its land-use planning process. The findings came from an inventory under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000 (EPCA), which required that estimates be made of oil and gas resources beneath federal lands in five western basins and that the nature and extent of impediments to developing these resources be identified.

“Our overall objective is to ensure the timely development of these critical energy resources in an environmentally sound manner,” sand a BLM spokeswoman.

By the end of this year, the BLM’s state and field offices are expected to determine whether to change existing land-use plans to facilitate oil and gas exploration and development based on the EPCA findings. The policies direct the agency’s land-use planners to not unduly restrict access to federal lands, while continuing to protect resources when they review oil and gas lease stipulations, especially in cases where an unnecessary stipulation could result in the abandonment or delay of a project.

The new policies also require all BLM state offices with a significant oil and gas program to conduct at least one meeting with industry representatives within a year to share the EPCA findings and discuss oil- and gas-related policy changes.

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