Interior

Efforts by western states and the energy industry to enhance habitat protections for the greater sage grouse should benefit from the recently unveiled U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Natural Resource Investment Center, said Secretary Sally Jewell.

The Interior Department said “substantially lower oil and gas prices” impacted royalties from energy production on federal and Indian lands and offshore areas in 2015, resulting in a decline of more than $3.5 billion to states, Indian tribes, the Treasury Department and others.

Following years of delay and legal wrangling, the Department of the Interior said Monday it plans to cancel 18 natural gas and oil leases in Montana’s Lewis and Clark National Forest.

The Obama administration on Friday imposed more barriers to explore for oil and natural gas offshore Alaska, angering state officials, legislators and industry groups, but the Department of Interior indicated that it hasn’t ruled out future exploration activity.

Interior Department officials on Friday remained optimistic that state-federal measures dealing with protecting the sage grouse will be worked out despite a Congressional move in the trillion-dollar omnibus appropriations bill to include a provision barring the federal department from moving forward on Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections (see Daily GPI, Dec. 11 ).

The state of Alaska has filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS) refusal to consider the state's exploration plan for the coastal plain, or 1002 Area, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the nominations by a voice vote, without opposition.

Royalties withheld by the U.S. Department of Interior for fiscal year (FY) 2013, estimated at $109 million to date, will be returned to the states in FY 2014, but when that happens remains a question, according to a spokesman for Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR).

Natural gas drilling activity continued its downward slide during the first quarter, while oil well completions rose during the period, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) quarterly well completion report issued this week.