Bypassed

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, is looking into the way the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may have bypassed some environmental reviews to issue oil and natural gas drilling permits across the West. One particular area of GAO’s inquiry involves how some natural gas drilling permits were issued to Bill Barrett Corp. in the environmentally sensitive Nine Mile Canyon area of Utah, officials said.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, is looking into the way the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may have bypassed some environmental reviews to issue oil and natural gas drilling permits across the West. One particular area of GAO’s inquiry involves how some natural gas drilling permits were issued to Bill Barrett Corp. in the environmentally sensitive Nine Mile Canyon area of Utah, officials said.

California’s governor virtually bypassed energy issues in his state of the state message last week and information on energy plans is expected to emerge slowly, along with indications from the state legislature on whether separate new comprehensive energy bills will be pushed separately by the Democratic majority and Republicans.