This fall, when the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management published an inventory of gas and oil available for
drilling on public lands, the industry raised a stink. Compared to
a similar 2003 report, the new inventory appeared to say that huge
quantities of gas and oil had been put off-limits by government
regulation.
The oil and gas industry pointed to the
report, known officially as the Energy Policy and Conservation Act
PHASE II Report, as proof that restrictions on leasing and drilling
should be eased. There’s plenty of gas and oil under public
lands, said Mike Linn of the Independent Petroleum Association of
America, but the “resources are not accessible because
regulatory barriers and antiquated policies prevent the responsible
development of these resources.” Indeed, at first glance it
seemed that additional restrictions had been put on 62 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas in just three years.
But many
of the numbers — and apparent differences between the two
reports — result from subtle shifts in categorization and
report methodology, not from actual changes. For example, the 2006
report excluded proved reserves — oil and gas that is known
to exist and be recoverable — and included as
“restrictions” limits on precisely where on a specific
parcel a company can place a drill pad.
“(The 2006)
report is a paper exercise and GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
exercise. It’s not representative of what’s actually
happening on the ground,” says Steve Belinda, a former
wildlife biologist at the Pinedale, Wyo., BLM office who is now
energy policy initiative manager for the Theodore Roosevelt
Conservation Partnership. Generally, the gas and oil available in
the Rocky Mountain West for drilling in 2003 is still available
today. In some cases, such as in the heavily drilled Paradox and
San Juan basins in the Four Corners region, more land is now open
under the least restrictive categorization, standard lease terms,
than in 2003.
Of the five Western basins included in both
reports, the Greater Green River Basin contains the most oil and
gas. High Country News took a close look at what changed, and what
didn’t, in regulation of the basin between 2003 and 2006. As
is shown below, some areas that were once off-limits have been
opened up, and other apparent changes between the 2003 and 2006
reports turn out not to be changes at all.
The author is an HCN
intern.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Energy illusions.
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