In An Effort to Ruin Hunting in WY, Dubya Issues Gas Permits Faster than Industry

[JoseCuervo]

Can use them....

Industry can't keep up with permits

By BLAINE HARDEN
The Washington Post




PINEDALE -- As energy companies and Bush administration officials have long told the story, lack of access to federal land is the primary roadblock for increased production of natural gas in the United States.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America made this familiar claim in February at a congressional hearing. Similarly, Vice President Dick Cheney said last year that because of unjustified federal limits on drilling, "large parts of the Rocky Mountain West are off-limits."

The lack-of-access story, however, doesn't square with what's happening on the ground here at the epicenter of what is widely being called the largest boom in gas drilling on federal land ever in the Rocky Mountain West.

In response to White House orders to expedite gas extraction on federal lands, the Bureau of Land Management has issued more gas-drilling permits in the West than the industry has rigs to drill with or workers to operate them, according to government records, industry experts and local officials.

The BLM issued a record number of drilling permits last year, but the gas industry is struggling to keep up, with the number of completed wells flat or declining over the past three years.

"Around here, I don't even hear that argument about access anymore," said Prill Mecham, field manager for the BLM in the Pinedale area, which she said contains more gas in a smaller footprint than anywhere in the West. "The companies are clear where they need to drill, and they have access to all these areas."

Several of the energy companies operating in the Pinedale area -- where there's an estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about 11 times the total amount produced annually on all public land in the United States -- are unreservedly bullish in their reports to shareholders about prospects for high-profit, long-term access to gas.

"Ultra's well economics are robust," says a company profile by Ultra Petroleum Corp. of Houston, one of the major operators here.

Equipment, manpower

With a record number of gas-drilling rigs now operating in the West, industry analysts say, energy companies have all but exhausted available drilling equipment in North America. Because delivery on new rigs can take a year or more, the industry is not expected to catch up in the near future to the drilling permits that have already been issued by the federal government.

"Large drilling contractors are operating at full utilization," said Byron Pope, an analyst for Pickering Energy Partners Inc., a Houston-based energy research firm. "Don't expect to see a massive wave of more drilling."

There is also an acute shortage of gas-field workers. Here in Wyoming, which leads the West in gas drilling on public land, an industry-sponsored school was opened last month in Casper to train needed roughnecks. Its director, Charlie Ware, said energy companies have "told us that they need 1,000 new workers a year for the next five years to drill the leases that are out there right now."

In New Mexico, where gas drilling on public lands is also booming, Bob Gallagher, president of the state oil and gas association, agreed that the industry has temporarily run out of capacity: "If we had the availability of equipment and labor as we speak, you would see more crews working, more wells being drilled."

Gallagher and other industry experts say the federal government must continue to lease more land for drilling because older gas fields are drying up, dependence on foreign supply is increasing and consumer appetite for gas continues to surge.

Grumbling about gas

As industry scrambles to catch up with existing drilling permits, state and local governments across the Rocky Mountain West, as well as a number of local and national environmental groups, are becoming increasingly concerned -- and in some cases, outraged -- about the environmental and social consequences of increased gas production on federal land.

"When you have a huge portfolio of unused leases, why does the Bush administration continue to issue more, especially in environmentally fragile areas?" asked Dave Alberswerth, who analyzes energy exploration on public lands for the Wilderness Society.

Responding to these concerns, John Wright, a spokesman for the Interior Department, said: "We only lease in areas on public land where there is gas and where we can do it in an environmentally sensitive manner. More important, these decisions are based on land management planning, which is a public process."

Here in the Pinedale area, a report by the Wilderness Society says that the rapid pace of drilling is damaging "a wildlife resource of national significance." The report says that road building associated with drilling has fragmented winter habitat for some of the West's largest and longest-migrating herds of pronghorn antelope and mule deer, while reducing breeding and nesting areas for the sage grouse, a bird many experts regard as threatened.

Local BLM chief Mecham concedes that intensive gas drilling and road construction in the Jonah Field near Pinedale in the past four years has caused some environmental damage, especially to habitat for the sage grouse.

According to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, that's an understatement. In a recent letter to Mecham, he said the Jonah Field is an "example of what not to do in the future." Surface disturbance from roads, wells and pipelines is so great, he wrote, that any measure to mitigate the damage would now be a "futile attempt to 'perfume the pig.' " In an interview at her office here, Mecham said that "there are lessons to be learned from Jonah" and that the BLM is now in a better position to control the drilling that has begun in a nearby gas field, called the Pinedale anticline, where there are winter herds of pronghorn and mule deer.
Many local residents, having witnessed the frantic pace of drilling in the past four years, are less sanguine.

"The country needs this energy, but it is insane what happened at the Jonah Field, and there is still no development plan for the Pinedale anticline," said Gordon Johnston, a Bush supporter and former Marine who until January was a Republican county commissioner in Sublette County, which includes Pinedale.

Asked whether he believes the BLM will now ride herd on the gas companies and protect wildlife in the Pinedale anticline, Johnston smiled sadly.

"There is not a doubt in my military mind," he said. "That will not happen."

 

[BuzzH]

The BLM is flat lying...they wont learn their lesson. They didnt get the reputation of being the Bureau of Livestock and Mining over-night. The BLM is just continuing with its relentless efforts to cater to the whims of the administration. The BLM has never found its way...its been a staggering punch-drunk agency from day one. The BLM managers are simply buckling to the pressures of the shrub administration and really, to be honest, them attempting to use science in any decision is a flat waste of time...totally irrevelant what the science says. The BLM managers lack the back-bone to challenge the boss with science...and thats always been a fact with them.

The days of proper land-management on BLM lands are over for at least the next 4 years and it will probably take another 10 years to expire the existing accelerated permitting.

It is nice to know that the Governor of Wyoming is smart enough to see whats happening and has been making some ground in slowing the drilling in at least the most sensitive areas. Which at this time, is about all that can be done.

I recently attended a RMP scoping meeting and the VAST majority of the written and verbal comments were strongly in favor of slowing drilling significantly. I talked with a BLM hydrologist who said that has been the tone of similar meetings all across Wyoming. Maybe that will make a difference, but I'm not optimistic.

I just want one sorry-assed individual to complain about the lack of quality mule deer in WY, MT, or CO...they can go bitch to shrub...and then kick their own ass for voting for that idiot.

Why any hunter would ever vote for someone like that is an absolute mystery.

 

[Tom]

I hope they get something good out of the BLM land and develope some of the habitat, with some of the money. We spend a lot and get a little. Its multi use, right, are you saying multi use is wrong. Show me the science you want them to use.
Can't the BLM guys make the plan put something good into the land too? Are you saying they are incompetent, you're pretty pissed at them for not doing something?

Where's the science saying what they should do that they are not doing? You probably know something good to tell me.

"estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about 11 times the total amount produced annually on all public land in the United States " That's amazing if it is anywhere near true. Is that the lie you're talking about?

 

[cjcj]

Can anyone name an "effective" well run government organization?...I.R.S..[NO] B.L.M.[NO]...etc. etc.etc... just a thought.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Many of the educational institutions are well run.

 

[cjcj]

You mean like YALE?

 

[BuzzH]

Tom, does this look like "multiple use" was kept in mind?

What kind of consideration was given to say...wildlife there?

What kind of consideration was given to say...aesthetic values?

What kind of consideration was given to say...wilderness attributes?

What kind of consideration was given to say...view sheds?

What kind of consideration was given to say...water quality?

What kind of consideration was given to say...noxious weeds?

That, is exactly what the BLM considers multiple use...apparently they havent gotten around to reading the definition as described UNDER THE LAW in the Mulitiple Use Sustained Yield Act. You know, that pesky part under section 4(a) harmonious and coordinated management of the various resources, each with the other, WITHOUT IMPAIRMENT of the productivity of the land, WITH EQUAL CONSIDERATION given to the relative values of the various resources, and not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output".

Do you think equal consideration was given to all resources in the picture there?

Get used to that picture, because that is the future of BLM lands across the West.

Good luck in pursuing mule deer and elk in the middle of a road, weed, and well infested public lands area like that...you asked for it, now you got it. Wow, wouldnt killing a 12 inch buck antelope be just swell there...I bet if you use close focus on your camera and try real hard, you could ALMOST get a nice picture without a road, well-pad, or powerline in there. What a top-notch experience it would be to hunt country like that... |oo

 

[Tom]

"35 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 11 times that produced by all public land in the US"

I'm sorry the gas is in Wyoming, but its relative value, compared to a few mule deer, or whatever, is how they decided, right? There's lots of other BLM land, where the mule deer win, the cattle win, American's get hamburgers and steaks, especially the residents of the states there. The relative percentage is small, I guess, that's why BLM did it?

I don't like the look, I don't like that we have so many people we need more and more gas. Maybe it will be more green in a year or two from all those wells?

 

[BuzzH]

Tom,

No, there isnt "lots of other BLM areas where mule deer win"...thats the problem.

The BLM needs its ass sued and their upper management need back-bones and to follow the LAW.

It also wouldnt hurt to have a President that didnt send Executive orders (like the one Shrub issued on 18 May 2001) to the Federal Agencies directing them to "expedite all energy development on public lands".

It also wouldnt hurt for the American Public (that means YOU) to wake the hell up, get involved, and demand accountability for responsible management of YOUR lands...

Oh, and dont forget to THOROUGHLY read section 4 (a)...in particular the last sentence..."NOT NECESSARILY THE COMBINATION THAT WILL GIVE THE GREATEST DOLLAR RETURN OR THE GREATEST UNIT OUTPUT".

In other words, it isnt just about the oil and gas...

I'm growing weary of carrying the ball everytime....how about a little assistance?

 

[Tom]

I'm not ready to sue the BLM, I don't get that. The states manage the mule deer. I think its a problem that the states get the mule deer from the land, lots of it is federal land, and the feds get nothing. The states are not motivated to improve the habitat because they get the deer for free, they think, the feds get nothing from the states for the deer, that's a problem I see with mule deer habitat. If the feds charged the states for the deer, the feds might have money to put in the habitat. Somebody needs to be motivated by law and required to pay for the deer, so their habitat is supported, I think that's the problem with mule deer. Its an idea anyway.


#35 trillion cubic feet of gas has a lot of relative value. That law seems pretty ambiguous to me. Relative uses, 35 trillion cubic feet makes lots of citizens happy because they have gas. Some unspecified loss of some mule deer makes some fraction of a few hunters and deer watchers unhappy in their recreational pursuits. Isn't that the relative values problem there that makes the mule deer loose?

 

[BuzzH]

Tom,

I guess I assume too much...I guess step one would be for you to pick up a copy of a Natural Resource POLICY book and read the various acts and regulations. You dont understand the acts and what they entail.

Its not your fault, you just dont understand the history of federal lands, the acts/regulations, and what it all means in correct management...

At least you seem interested...thats a good start.

 

[Tom]

I never heard of the Natural Resource and Policy book. Who reads that? I guess I'll do an amazon.com search for it.

 

[BuzzH]

Tom, Title: Forest and Range Policy...Authors: Dana and Fairfax...second edition.

I read it cover to cover...so should people like our President. Oh, thats right, he doesnt like to read... |oo

Unless its a fairytale, like the bible...

 

[Tom]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891853120/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-9758540-2640048

I found that one, is that similar?

 

[BuzzH]

Tom,

The Dana and Fairfax book doesnt slant either way...just explains the laws, regulations, history, and development of Federal Land Management Agencies.

Pretty dry unless you're interested in that type of stuff.