Groups ask BLM to suspend streamlined drilling reviews

Fifteen conservation groups are asking the Bureau of Land Management to suspend use of a streamlined approach to regulating oil and gas drilling, pending an internal review of the practice. The groups’ request comes after the Government Accountability Office said in a September report the BLM’s use of what are called categorical exclusions in Colorado and elsewhere “has frequently been out of compliance with both the law and BLM’s guidance.” Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States has released a position paper detailing its concerns about the report. These include its contention that the GAO ignored frequent violations of the law involving the BLM’s failure to use the exclusions for drilling projects that qualified for them under criteria mandated by Congress. Congress created the exclusions in 2005 to exempt certain drilling-related activities from the new environmental analyses that normally are required...read more