September 17, 2009 11:23 PM UTC

BLM: Breaking the Law in the Gaspatch?

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• by: ClubTwitty

The Colorado Independent is reporting on a Government Accountability Office report, issued yesterday which found BLM field offices across the West in violation of their own guidelines and, perhaps, federal environmental law in moving to permit thousands of new gas wells without proper environmental review:

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 rather famously – or infamously, depending on your point of view – allowed for a Safe Drinking Water Act exemption for the Haliburton-perfected process of hydraulic fracturing in of natural gas wells.

But, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued today, the act also sought to pick up the pace of natural gas exploration and production by allowing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to use “categorical exclusions” when issuing oil and gas drilling permits.

The report found that from 2006 to 2008 the BLM signed off on more than 22,000 new oil and gas drilling permits in 20 states, mostly in the mountain west. Of those, Section 390 categorical exclusions granted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 were used to approve more than 6,100 permit applications, or about 28 percent.

In 85 percent of the field offices sampled, the GAO found that BLM officials failed to follow guidance and provide adequate justification for using categorical exclusions, which allow for drilling permits outside of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process in order to speed up production.

Today we learned that former Secretary of Interior Norton is under investigation for corruption, and yesterday that current DOI Sect. Salazar is moving to shut down the scandal plagued Mineral Management Service’s Royalty In-Kind Program (where Shell and other oil and gas industry employees traded sex and drugs for sweetheart deals at the public’s expense).  

The GAO report (from a synopsis forwarded to me by a colleague who has examined it in detail) finds that:

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a long-awaited report … that highlighted a number of concerns about how the BLM is inappropriately using categorical exclusions.  Notably, the report finds that violations of law and BLM policy in approving applications using categorical exclusions were fairly widespread.

…Both it and full 72-page report are available online at: www.gao.gov/docsearch/repandtest.html.

…Here are few highlights:

Like many projects on federal land with possible environmental impacts, oil and gas development activities are typically subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was drafted in part to expedite oil and gas development includes language (in Section 390) that authorizes BLM, for certain oil and gas activities, to approve projects without preparing new environmental analyses that would normally be required by NEPA, through categorical exclusions.

— According to the GAO report, from 2006 to 2008, the BLM approved more than 22,000 new oil and gas drilling permits across 20 states, largely in the mountain West. GAO’s analysis of BLM field office data shows that section 390 categorical exclusions were used to approve approximately 6,100 of 22,000 applications for drilling permits (about 28 percent) during that time. (page 6)

–The GAO report found that the violations and non-compliance “may have thwarted NEPA’s twin aims of ensuring that BLM and the public are fully informed of the environmental consequences of BLM’s actions. (summary)

— According to the Environmental Protection Agency and others, ozone levels around at least three field offices-Farmington, New Mexico; Pinedale, Wyoming; and Vernal, Utah-have reached or exceeded allowable levels, in part because of the release of nitrogen oxides from additional wells approved with section 390 categorical exclusions. (page 41)

— The GAO found that “BLM’s use of section 390 categorical exclusions has frequently been out of compliance with both the law and BLM’s guidance.” Violations of law using categorical exclusions included “approving more than one oil or gas well under a single decision document, approving projects inconsistent with the law’s criteria, and drilling a new well after time frames had lapsed.” (page 2)

— For example, the GAO report found that BLM field offices in Glenwood Springs, Colo. and Rawlins, Wyo. used one type of categorical exclusion to approve new wells on sites that did not have any wells started or drilled, even though the law clearly states the categorical exclusions are only to be used to speed permitting for drilling on existing sites. (page 30)

— “GAO found numerous examples-in 85 percent of the field offices sampled-where officials did not correctly follow guidance, most often by failing to adequately justify the use of a categorical exclusion. A lack of clear guidance and oversight contributed to the violations and noncompliance. While many of these are technical in nature, others are more significant and may have thwarted NEPA’s twin aims of ensuring that BLM and the public are fully informed of the environmental consequences of BLM’s actions.” (page2)

— GAO found at least one instance in which a field office approved an initial environmental assessment nearly 2 months after the office began the approval process for 18 additional wells in that location using catergorical exclusions. In other words, GAO concluded, the fact that an “approval of an environmental assessment that was, in effect, outdated before it was signed raises troubling questions about the extent to which BLM is using section 390 categorical exclusions in a manner that undermines NEPA’s purposes of fully informing the agency itself and the public of the environmental consequences of proposed actions.” (page 44)

— “Without corrections to the gaps and shortcomings in BLM’s existing guidance, compliance problems will likely persist that may thwart NEPA’s twin aims of ensuring that both BLM and the public are fully informed of the environmental consequences of BLM’s actions, field offices will continue to interpret section 390 categorical exclusions inconsistently and sometimes incorrectly, and the public’s confidence and trust in BLM’s decision making will continue to erode.” (page 57)

The tales of graft, illegal behavior, and corruption that is the legacy of the Bush administration’s public lands programs keep piling up.  Perhaps Nate or johnpauljones will show up soon to defend lawbreaking, prostitution, and corruption among cabinet members…I look forward to the debate.