BLM drilling permit bill attracts broad support at Senate hearing

Witnesses and committee members argued over the extent of oil and gas drilling permit delays at US Bureau of Land Management field offices. But they strongly supported a bill that would make permanent a pilot program enacted in 2005 to begin relieving the problem at a July 29 US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. "For years, federal policies have put federal lands at a competitive disadvantage with the state lands and private lands. This is especially true when it comes to oil and natural gas production," said Sen. John A. Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who cosponsored the June 5 measure with US Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM). "We should stop making it harder to produce energy on federal lands. S. 2440 is one way to do that," he said. Barrasso continued, "This bill will give local BLM offices the financial resources necessary to process oil and gas permits in a timely manner. It will also give BLM the ability to anticipate where permitting backlogs may develop in the future and take steps to prevent them from occurring." Asked if allowing the pilot program to expire in 2015 would affect the US Department of the Interior agency's hiring, BLM Director Neil Kornze said, "The short answer is yes. With that authorization expiring, we aren't able to offer certainty." Kornze noted in his written testimony that the pilot program was established under Section 365 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPACT) in seven BLM field offices in Miles City, Mont.; Buffalo and Rawlins, Wyo.; Grand Junction/Glenwood Springs, Colo.; Vernal, Utah; and Farmington and Carlsbad, NM. US President Barrack Obama expanded the boundaries of two of the project offices—Miles City, to include the growing Bakken shale development, and Buffalo—in response to changing demand for federal oil and gas resource development on Dec. 26, 2013, Kornze said...more