S. 1027, the “American Energy and Western Jobs Act”, a bill introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), would not increase oil and gas production from federal lands, but it would reduce the balanced use of those lands, giving greater control of our public lands to the oil and gas industry. The bill is an irresponsible, unnecessary, and unworkable legislative proposal that should be rejected by the Senate.
Substantial economic costs are likely to occur if air quality in the areas surrounding BLM lands continues to deteriorate as the result of proposed actions and developments such as increased oil and gas exploration and production. There are tools readily available to assist the BLM in conducting a thorough analysis of the health-related costs of increased ozone exposures for citizens living near and visitors to BLM lands, so that these costs can be given due consideration in land management decisions.
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This map breaks down Alaska's North Slope by sold, deferred, active, and potential leases, as well as Barrow Native Lands and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Surface and Subsurface Lands.
The oil and gas industry claims that the only way to address our country’s numerous energy issues is to open more public lands and waters to oil and natural gas drilling. What they don’t tell you is that drilling in America is already occurring at an astonishing pace and in a bewildering number of places. The facts below show that “more drilling” won’t solve America’s energy problems.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently issued Secretarial Order #3310, which directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to identify and consider protecting lands harboring wilderness characteristics within the hundreds of millions of acres of public lands that it manages by designating “Wild Lands.” Although the BLM manages the most lands (245 million acres) of all the federal land management agencies, it has the smallest portfolio of designated wilderness (8.6 million acres).
