MtMiller....
- Thread starter Oak
- Start date
WH's OutdoorsChick
New member
LMFAO I thnk 1 Point has made it clear... A picture is worth a thousand words
Sorry I brought it up, Miller. 
Your senator has a message for you today:
Clashing wishes surface when talk is energy wells
Western Republican senators say last year's record number of permits for oil and gas drilling isn't enough, while environmentalists say the industry already can't keep up.
10/26/2005
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Washington - Land managers approved a record 7,018 oil and gas wells on Western federal lands last year, and when the Bush administration announced the figure Tuesday, Western Republican senators scolded them for not allowing more.
The number of permitted wells for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was an 8.8 percent increase from the previous year, when 6,452 were approved in the West, and double the number approved in 2002. And the number of permits stayed well ahead of drilling by the oil and gas industry, which sank 4,682 wells.
Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke said she expects demand to keep increasing because of high natural-gas prices. She predicted 9,200 requests for permits this year, which would be an increase of nearly one-third over last fiscal year.
"I think we are doing well across the board in increasing production," Clarke said. "It is front and center on my screen."
But senators who gathered to hear Clarke's numbers at a hearing Tuesday said the pace isn't fast enough. They say they're still concerned with a backlog of permits stacking up in BLM offices across the West. At the time of the report, 1,450 applications more than 60 days old were awaiting approval.
"I want to know who's been asleep at the switch," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. "We ought to be at racer's speed."
Clarke said drilling has been slowed by environmental reviews and by lawsuits filed by environmental groups. Industry representatives agreed that environmental regulations are slowing production and therefore increasing the cost of natural gas for consumers.
"Natural-gas prices are not set by some cartel but by continuing neglect of the regulatory process," said Logan Magruder, an executive with Berry Petroleum Co. in Denver and president of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States.
But environmental groups question why the BLM and Western lawmakers are pushing regulators to approve permits faster when they're already approving them faster than the industry can drill them.
"BLM is being pressured to rush to judgment when there are thousands of drilling permits that aren't being used," said Dave Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society. "But industry continues to insist on drilling in environmentally sensitive areas."
Magruder said drillers bank permits to handle fluctuations in business and permitting, so they always have work for drilling rigs.
"If you use it, you pay for it. If you don't use it, you still pay for it," Magruder said.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., attended the hearing and noted that projections of oil and gas development for the BLM's Meeker office have gone from 1,100 in 1997 to 13,000 wells today.
"As this boom of activity continues throughout western Colorado, it will be imperative for BLM to communicate to this and other committees what sort of needs arise throughout the agency," Allard said.
Also Tuesday, the BLM announced a new program in which environmental regulators from federal agencies will be assigned to the main oil and gas offices across the West to streamline federal permitting. The program is expected to start in January and get an additional 3,000 wells approved during the next five years, Clarke said.
"We in government ought to be in the business of aiding and facilitating more production," said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. "Let's get a mindset in BLM that we're going to help these people wherever possible."
Your senator has a message for you today:Clashing wishes surface when talk is energy wells
Western Republican senators say last year's record number of permits for oil and gas drilling isn't enough, while environmentalists say the industry already can't keep up.
10/26/2005
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Washington - Land managers approved a record 7,018 oil and gas wells on Western federal lands last year, and when the Bush administration announced the figure Tuesday, Western Republican senators scolded them for not allowing more.
The number of permitted wells for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was an 8.8 percent increase from the previous year, when 6,452 were approved in the West, and double the number approved in 2002. And the number of permits stayed well ahead of drilling by the oil and gas industry, which sank 4,682 wells.
Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke said she expects demand to keep increasing because of high natural-gas prices. She predicted 9,200 requests for permits this year, which would be an increase of nearly one-third over last fiscal year.
"I think we are doing well across the board in increasing production," Clarke said. "It is front and center on my screen."
But senators who gathered to hear Clarke's numbers at a hearing Tuesday said the pace isn't fast enough. They say they're still concerned with a backlog of permits stacking up in BLM offices across the West. At the time of the report, 1,450 applications more than 60 days old were awaiting approval.
"I want to know who's been asleep at the switch," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. "We ought to be at racer's speed."
Clarke said drilling has been slowed by environmental reviews and by lawsuits filed by environmental groups. Industry representatives agreed that environmental regulations are slowing production and therefore increasing the cost of natural gas for consumers.
"Natural-gas prices are not set by some cartel but by continuing neglect of the regulatory process," said Logan Magruder, an executive with Berry Petroleum Co. in Denver and president of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States.
But environmental groups question why the BLM and Western lawmakers are pushing regulators to approve permits faster when they're already approving them faster than the industry can drill them.
"BLM is being pressured to rush to judgment when there are thousands of drilling permits that aren't being used," said Dave Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society. "But industry continues to insist on drilling in environmentally sensitive areas."
Magruder said drillers bank permits to handle fluctuations in business and permitting, so they always have work for drilling rigs.
"If you use it, you pay for it. If you don't use it, you still pay for it," Magruder said.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., attended the hearing and noted that projections of oil and gas development for the BLM's Meeker office have gone from 1,100 in 1997 to 13,000 wells today.
"As this boom of activity continues throughout western Colorado, it will be imperative for BLM to communicate to this and other committees what sort of needs arise throughout the agency," Allard said.
Also Tuesday, the BLM announced a new program in which environmental regulators from federal agencies will be assigned to the main oil and gas offices across the West to streamline federal permitting. The program is expected to start in January and get an additional 3,000 wells approved during the next five years, Clarke said.
"We in government ought to be in the business of aiding and facilitating more production," said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. "Let's get a mindset in BLM that we're going to help these people wherever possible."
Tom
New member
Too many people, eh.
BigHornRam
Well-known member
Oak,
That's not what Miller's other Senator says. He's pissed that the Senate didn't pass a bill to help assist low income people with their heating bill this winter. He said some people are going to have to chose between heating their homes and eating. They may also have to give up beer and cigs as well as the Big Macs!
That's not what Miller's other Senator says. He's pissed that the Senate didn't pass a bill to help assist low income people with their heating bill this winter. He said some people are going to have to chose between heating their homes and eating. They may also have to give up beer and cigs as well as the Big Macs!
