Bureau of Land Management Finalizes Leasing Reforms for Onshore Oil and Gas Program to 'Improve the Environmental Protection' of U.S. Public Lands and Provide 'Orderly Leasing'; Western Producers Say Policies Are redundant

摘要

The Department of Interior's (DOI's) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized several reforms to its onshore oil and gas leasing program, issuing an "Instruction Memorandum" (IM) to its field directors. The reforms are intended to provide "a more thorough environmental review process and documentation, as well as an increased opportunity for public participation, and enhance the BLM's ability to resolve protests prior to lease sales." The reforms are part of DOI Secretary Ken Salazar's "ongoing agenda" to change how the agency "does business," the agency said. Salazar proposed the reforms in January (FNGR Nos. 2778, pp2-4; 2779, pp3-6) based on earlier recommendations from an interdisciplinary review team that studied a controversial 2008 oil and gas lease sale in Utah (FNGR Nos. 2731, p15; 2749, p43; 2768, pp12-16).