Thousands of unused permits issued by the BLM show that the biggest obstacle to oil and gas companies drilling in America is…oil and gas companies themselves!

New data released by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) indicates that as of May 2011, the agency had issued over 6,500 oil and gas drilling permits on BLM land that the industry is not using.  Despite the fact that tens of millions of acres of federal lands under lease to the oil and gas industry are not in use, and the industry is sitting on thousands of approved but idle drilling permits for these lands, the industry and its allies have kept a drumbeat of pressure on the Obama Administration. Those squeaky wheels would like to weaken environmental safety laws and open more lands to drilling. This simply is not necessary.

The approval of an Application for Permit to Drill (APD) is the final step allowing companies to drill on federal lands. Issuance of an APD means that all environmental requirements are addressed, all plans have been approved, and all “I”’s are dotted and “T”’s crossed. In other words, they are “good to go.”  Most of the idle federal drilling permits were issued in Wyoming – 3,528, according to the BLM data.  The rest are in New Mexico (1,307), Utah (775), Colorado (571), Montana (203), and in four other states.

BLM data released earlier this year also indicated that although over 41,000,000 acres of BLM lands- – a land area larger than Florida – were under lease to oil and gas companies in 2010 only about 12.2 million acres of these leased lands were actually in production.

The oil and gas industry’s criticisms are nothing new from their supporters in Congress.  However, their claims are not based on the relevant facts.  Despite clear evidence that thousands of approved federal drilling permits are sitting on the industry’s  shelf, and that tens of millions of acres of federal leases are not producing oil or gas, unfortunately there are still Members of Congress who advocate “more drilling” and less regulation, and blame high gasoline prices on a shortage of federal leases and drilling permits. This just isn’t so.

For example, Rep. Gary Coffman (R-CO), recently introduced a bill (H.R. 2375) designed to eviscerate current environmental safety protections in the federal onshore oil and gas program, saying in a press release that his bill “…would require the U.S. Department of the Interior to accelerate and streamline the approval process for onshore oil and gas production permits on federal lands to produce for [sic] domestic oil and gas...”  According to Open Secrets, Rep. Coffman received $53,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry last year.

And, despite the fact that the BLM data shows that oil and gas companies hold over 3,500 idle BLM drilling permits in Wyoming alone, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) has introduced a bill (S. 1027) that would rescind the BLM’s oil and gas leasing reforms, which were designed to promote a better balance between oil and gas development and the protection of environmental values on public lands.

The industry’s drumbeat is incessant:

• In a report released last fall entitled "The War on Western Jobs," Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Sen. Barrasso argued that “Washington's ‘misguided policies,’ including restricting ‘access to America's vast reserves of affordable oil and natural gas,’ have contributed to the highest regional unemployment rate in the nation for the past year...”
• “Doc” Hastings (R-WA), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has said that, “Instead of addressing this issue head on, the Obama administration has actively opposed efforts to expand American energy production. They’ve imposed burdensome regulations and policies that are slowing economic recovery and casting shadows of uncertainty on job creators. These regulations are locking up American energy resources, costing U.S. jobs, increasing our dependence on foreign energy and leading to higher prices at the pump.”

Such statements echo the tilted views of the oil and gas industry.  For example, the Western Energy Alliance, a lobbying group composed of western oil and gas companies, added to the misinformation, stating that, “…the federal government continues to impose new policies that further restrict access to our domestic natural resources. These burdensome and redundant regulations are hurting American energy production, slowing job growth, and harming county and state budgets.”

But the proof is in the permits – and the thousands of approved but idle drilling permits issued by the BLM show that it isn’t the Obama administration holding up oil and gas development on public lands, it’s the oil and gas companies themselves!

The Bottom Line: There is no shortage of leased federal lands or permits to drill for the oil and gas industry.

Congress does not need to weaken federal environmental laws to encourage more drilling on our federal lands and waters. Instead, Congress should strengthen the health, safety and environmental statutes that govern oil and gas operations to assure that these activities do not impair air and water quality, destroy sensitive wildlife habitats, or ruin our last remaining wild lands.

Download the printable fact sheet on this issue here.