American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2021 - 19

IndustryDigest
of those proposed parcels, totaling about
179,001 acres in an oil and gas lease sale
in the first quarter of calendar year 2022.
BLM asserts that its public scoping
and preparations for the planned lease
sale comply with a district court's
preliminary injunction directing the
federal onshore oil and gas leasing
program to continue while under
ongoing review (AOGR, July 2021, pg.
16). After evaluating scoping comments
and conducting internal analysis,
including greater sage grouse habitat,
BLM Wyoming says it plans to defer
264 parcels containing approximately
382,882 acres in priority habitat
management areas, which the bureau is
analyzing in the modified proposed
action in the EA and will continue to
evaluate based on ongoing public
comment and internal review. ❒
DOI Leasing Report
Draws Industry Fire
WASHINGTON-In a report released
one day after the Thanksgiving holiday,
the U.S. Department of the Interior
called for major changes to federal oil
and gas leasing and permitting practices.
The report follows a review of onand
offshore oil and gas programs, the
department says, and urges significant
reforms to encourage a fair return to
taxpayers, discourage speculation, hold
operators responsible for remediation,
and more fully include communities and
tribal, state and local governments in
decision-making.
Reaction from industry representatives
appears to vary from skeptical to
downright suspicious.
DOI says the report completes the review
of the federal oil and gas programs
called for in Executive Order 14008 and
focuses primarily on reforming the fiscal
terms, leasing process and remediation
requirements related to federal oil
and gas programs. The report says that
restoring balance to the programs will
require adjusting royalty and bonding
rates, prioritizing leasing in areas with
known resource potential, and avoiding
leasing that conflicts with recreation,
wildlife habitat, conservation and historical
and cultural resources.
American Petroleum Institute Senior
Vice President of Policy, Economics
and Regulatory Affairs Frank Macchiarola
says the report clashes with
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Biden's rhetoric about energy prices.
" During one of the busiest travel weeks
of the year, when rising costs of energy
are even more apparent to Americans,
the Biden administration is sending
mixed signals, " Macchiarola says.
" Days after a public speech in which the
White House said the president 'is using
every tool available to him to work to
lower prices and address the lack of
supply,' his Interior Department proposes
to increase costs on American energy
development with no clear roadmap for
the future of federal leasing. "
The Petroleum Association of
Wyoming, meanwhile, deems the analysis's
timing to be deliberate. " When the
government quietly releases a 'significant'
report the day after Thanksgiving,
you can be sure of two things: (members
of the administration) are embarrassed
by what it says, and they hope no
one will read it. Embarrassed they
should be.
" As fuel prices continue to rise, the
Biden administration's solution is to increase
the cost of production, build
more barriers to Wyoming's development
and choke off exploration of new
reserves, " PAW adds. " The report repeats
overblown claims about the government
needing a 'fair return,' when in
fact the mineral program is second only
to the Internal Revenue Service in revenue
production for the treasury. The
report misleads Wyomingites by falsely
claiming an imbalance in federal lands
management, with oil and gas 'prioritized
over other land uses,' when in fact
only 10% of all BLM acres, and 4% of
all federally owned lands, are leased for
oil and gas development. "
PAW charges that the DOI document
is littered with falsehoods. " The report
advances downright silly arguments
suggesting that the price of the lease determines
whether oil or gas is present,
rather than the presence of oil or gas
driving the bidding price for a lease.
The report continues the lie that areas
leased cannot be managed for other
uses, a fact proven wrong over and over
again in Wyoming, " the association
states. " Wyomingites should take this
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DECEMBER 2021 19
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2021

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