Lands

A final oil/natural gas leasing plan released Thursday for the White River National Forest in Colorado effectively closes the possibility of any new drilling in the Thompson Divide area that has captured the industry’s eye for some time.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last Friday called out a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) master leasing plan (MLP) for federal lands in east-central Utah as a model for how communities can balance oil/natural gas development with protection of iconic landscapes such as the lands around Moab, UT. The plan begins a 90-day comment period Friday, but some industry sources are already calling the MLP redundant.

Venting and flaring of associated natural gas in oil production on federal and tribal lands throughout the West is a multi-million-dollar annual problem and the oil/gas industry is allegedly to blame, according to a new report from ICF International done for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Venting and flaring of associated natural gas in oil production on federal and tribal lands throughout the West is a multi-million-dollar annual problem and the oil/gas industry is allegedly to blame, according to a new report from ICF International done for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

In a move that’s unlikely to advance in a Republican-controlled Congress, two House Democrats plan to reintroduce a bill banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands.

In a move that's unlikely to advance in a Republican-controlled Congress, two House Democrats plan to reintroduce a bill banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands.

The Department of Interior (DOI) will release a final rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands within days, and it is months away from unveiling standards designed to cut methane emissions from drilling on public lands as well, according to Secretary Sally Jewell.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took preliminary steps Wednesday that could lead to the leasing of heretofore untouched federal forest lands in south-central Utah for possible oil and natural gas exploration. The appeal period for the action ends March 25.

More than 3,700 onshore drilling permits were approved in fiscal 2014 (FY2014) by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), on par with 2013, and “half-again as many authorizations” than the industry used to drill on public lands last year, federal officials said Tuesday.