The Obama Administration will expedite permitting of oil and gas development on federal lands, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced during a two-day visit in early April to Bakken developments around North Dakota.
The changes will move the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for oil and gas production on federal onshore lands, into the digital age by automating permitting and leasing decisions. Today, those negotiations are done on paper, and the back-and-forth has resulted in permits taking on average 298 days to approve.
Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey said the new process unveiled April 3 and in place nationwide by May would drop it to 60 days or less, without compromising safety or the environment.
“We have heard from the industry that they believe that BLM’s administrative processes are too slow and result in unnecessary delay and added costs,” Abbey said in a conference call with reporters. “And to some degree, their criticism is valid.
The announcement comes as Republican presidential contenders and the oil industry are attacking the administration for policies they claim have diminished oil and gas production on public property — and contributed to high prices at the pump. North Dakota has played prominently in their attacks because the state is in the midst of an oil shale drilling boom, most of which is occurring on private property outside of the federal government’s control.
Agencies are understaffed
Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents more than 200 companies working in the state, said the permitting process on federal land is overly burdensome and agencies are understaffed at present to deal with the rise in oil production in North Dakota and elsewhere.
Ness said streamlining the permit process on federal land is welcome, “but proof is in the pudding.”
The American Petroleum Institute and Republican critics also expressed cautious optimism, but again called for the administration to open up more areas to drilling and to simplify environmental reviews.
“Better government efficiency is certainly positive,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “But the real problem over the past three years of the Obama administration isn’t slow computers but policies that punish and discourage American-made energy on public lands.”
