U.S. Make Drilling Compensation Voluntary

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Page 1 of 2 Miller, Steve From: Loretta Lohman [lorettalohman @comcast.net] Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 11:19 AM To: Dave Merritt; Miller, Steve; John Shields; Dick Parachini; Daniel M. Beley; BILL McKee; Kathleen Reilly; Laurie Fisher; Randal J Ristau; Carl Norbeck Subject: more on drilling U.S. Make Drilling Compensation Voluntary By JUDITH KOHLER The Associated Press Friday, August 5, 2005; 3:29 AM GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. -- With drilling rigs sprouting across the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly made it voluntary for companies to compensate for oil and gas development by improving the environment. Environmentalists are concerned that the policy lets companies off the hook when it comes to fixing up areas near drilling sites, a process known as "offsite mitigation." "There's no excuse to so completely destroy a site that you need offsite mitigation," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. "(But) if offsite mitigation is going to be an outcome, then it should be required." The Rockies have become ground zero in the rush to find new domestic sources of natural gas, oil and coal -bed methane. Industry experts say Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico have vast stores of energy waiting to be tapped. The Bureau of Land Management has been swamped for several years now with permits to drill. The agency in February decided that the offsite improvements are optional. It was a subtle change _ the improvements were never officially mandatory, although a few BLM offices were requiring them, said Kermit Witherbee, deputy chief of the BLM's mineral fluids division in Washington. "There was a little bit of interpretation about what we can and can't do," Witherbee said. The BLM's decision doesn't apply when endangered species or Roads leading to gas drilling rigs can be seen on top of the Roan Plateau in this aerial photograph taken July 27, 2005, near Parachute, Colo. With energy development proliferating in the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly passed a policy that environmentalists fear will let companies off the hook when it comes to restoring land damaged by oil and gas drilling. (AP Photo /Ed Andrieski) (Ed Andrieski - AP) national historic sites are part of a potential drilling site. BLM officials also say they can still withhold drilling permits if companies balk at mitigation work. 8/9/2005