Energy News from The Wilderness Society

The Numbers Don’t Lie – BLM lease sales undercut industry claims

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:17:41 +0000

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To hear the oil and gas industry tell it, we just aren’t drilling enough.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should be opened for drilling. Drill rigs should be set up off the coast in the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico, without improving the lax industry regulations that led to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. Pipelines, like the Keystone XL, should crisscross the nation, less than a year after a pipeline leaked into the Yellowstone River.

They even started a $100 million ad campaign, trying influence the 2012 political candidates (an ad campaign that is brilliantly spoofed here).

But what happens when reality crashes in on their parade? The latest figures from the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees most drilling on federal lands, tell a different story.

Record Natural Gas production: 2011 was a banner year for natural gas production on federal lands. In fact, it was the banner year – with the highest royalty revenue from gas production ever recorded (which accounts for 2011 gas production and some production from previous years). The BLM also calculated returns on more than 5.3 million MCF (or million cubic feet, the unit of measurement for natural gas) produced from federal lands in 2011.

Increasing Lease Sales: Lease sales also increased in 2011– the oil and gas industry leased an additional 2 million acres of land (up from 1.4 million last year) and bought 2,188 new leases (up from about 1,300).

(Side note – the oil and gas industry spent $256 million on those leases, or about 2.5 times what they will pay for their advertising campaign…think about that the next time gasoline prices are over $4/gallon)

Unused permits still unused: In the drilling world, a drilling permit is the last step before making a hole in the ground. With a drilling permit in hand, no lawsuit, complaint, or federal agency rule or regulation can stop a company from drilling for gas and oil, which makes this next statistic a little surprising. In 2011, the BLM issued over 4,200 drilling permits – but only 3,260 wells were actually drilled. This continues a trend of oil and gas companies sitting on thousands of permits and not using them. For an industry that continues to make claims that we aren’t drilling enough, it sure seems like they would use every permit. Certainly there are some extenuating circumstances – but thousands of permits are sitting on the shelf!

The numbers show that the oil and gas industry is doing well without opening up sensitive wild lands to drilling. They are posting record profits without fragmenting some of the little remaining unspoiled habitat. They still receive billions of dollars in tax breaks.

The numbers don’t lie – but when the oil industry and their Congressional allies claim that there needs to be more drilling in America, something doesn’t add up.

Offshore drilling in the Arctic: The deadline to oppose new leases is tonight!

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:31:19 +0000

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Despite a glaring lack of scientific information about the Arctic Ocean, or effective technology to address a major oil spill, the Obama administration is following the previous administration’s lead and positioning itself to expand offshore oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas over the next five years in its 2012-2017 drilling plan.

Please take action now to help stop this disastrous plan. The deadline to comment is midnight, Jan. 9.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has already decided not pursue drilling in the Atlantic Ocean because of a “lack of infrastructure.” If the port cities of Boston, Portland, Gloucester, and the other cities and towns in New England cannot respond to an oil spill, how does the BOEM expect the small, isolated villages of Kaktovik and Barrow – which have no deepwater ports – to be able to clean up an oil spill?

We are not ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean, period. But oil companies want to drill now, and they and their Congressional allies are pressuring the Obama administration to surrender this remote treasure. It’s up to you to help pressure the administration to say no.

The Arctic Ocean is full of unknowns. We don’t know how to effectively clean up a spill in the icy Arctic waters. We don’t know how an oil spill would affect the polar bears, whales, and seals that live in the Arctic Ocean. And we simply do not what a spill would do the people that depend on the Arctic Ocean for their food and their livelihood. We simply do not have enough data. BOEM’s draft Environmental Impact Statement on the draft 2012-2017 drilling plan falls far short of ensuring that drilling on the Arctic’s Outer Continental Shelf can be done safely. We’re simply not ready. What we do know is that drilling in the Arctic now threatens the people and wildlife that live there.

Tell BOEM to stop this disaster in the making, and ask the Department of the Interior provide an options that don’t include drilling in their final Environmental Impact Statement. The number of people who comment is important. Please click to send this letter, or revise it with your own personal comments. Let’s tell BOEM and Big Oil that we’re not ready to sacrifice America’s Arctic.

Interior Department releases plan for prioritizing applications pending final solar energy plan

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Early last week, the Bureau of Land Management released a list of 17 wind, solar, and geothermal project applications that the agency will prioritize in2012, representing about 7,000 MW of renewable energy. According to the BLM, the projects were selected based on a variety of considerations, including progress of the necessary public participation and environmental analysis under federal and applicable state environmental laws. That means that these projects will benefit from focused effort across the agency while a long-term solar energy plan is finalized.

The BLM is working hard to increase transparency and create certainty in the permitting process. With limited resources, focusing on a manageable number of applications is necessary—and better still, focusing on project proposals most likely to be built can build momentum for a growing renewable energy industry. While the priority list does include problematic applications, the agency has made progress toward developing a smarter permitting process for clean energy development on our public lands.

In the past, wind and solar planning have languished while the BLM engaged in a single-minded pursuit of oil and gas. But positive changes are underfoot. Market conditions have improved for renewable energy as prices have dropped and technology has continued to improve. The Department of the Interior under Secretary Ken Salazar has also shown leadership on making environmentally responsible development of renewable energy on public lands a top priority. The first Secretarial Order under Salazar, signed on March 11, 2009, formally established responsible development of renewable energy as a primary focus for the agency. The Order calls for prioritizing specific locations for development of wind, solar, and geothermal resources, and in particular calls for new or revised policies needed to increase development and transmission of renewable energy resources from public lands.

For the long-term success of renewable energy and to protect public lands, DOI must maintain its focus on moving away from a project-by-project approach to a comprehensive program that guides projects to low-conflict areas—such as the plan contemplated for solar development in the programmatic EIS currently under development for six western states. Until a program framework is put into place, the Department will continue to face the difficulties associated with project-by-project permitting for solar facilities. Experience to date has shown that better planning and upfront analysis can reduce uncertainty for developers and financiers, and delays to projects.

Despite what some media outlets have reported, renewable energy is working in America. Developing a robust domestic renewable energy industry will be essential for our national and economic security. Across the country, from rooftops to former industrial sites, renewable energy facilities are under construction and in operation today. The BLM’s effort at screening for projects with minimal environmental impacts is an important recognition that renewable energy development and land conservation can go hand in hand. But we will only realize that goal with a predictable approach that starts with identifying the right places to develop – that is being truly smart from the start.

Report: ‘Energy Independence’ thwarted as U.S. oil and gas heads overseas

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:22:09 +0000

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These days the phrase ‘energy independence’ has become code for drilling our wild public lands. But what some may not realize is that oil and gas from our wildlands is not staying in the United States.

As it turns out, the oil, gas, and coal that is drilled and mined from right here in the U.S. is actually leaving American shores to fuel cars and furnaces in places like Europe, China, and India.

A new Wilderness Society report titled Exporting America’s Heritage details just how high the exports have risen.

Among the stats revealed:

The U.S. currently exports more than 690,000 barrels refined petroleum products per day like kerosene.
Gasoline exports have more than doubled since 2007 and are on pace this year to exceed 150 million barrels, triple the amount in 2007—even as gas prices remain high.
In the first quarter of 2010, the United States exported more than 17.8 million short tons of coal. American coal exports increased by nearly 50% in the first quarter of 2011.
Two permits for natural gas export terminals have been approved, with several more proposed to send gas from the Marcellus Shale overseas.

Meanwhile American taxpayers are subsidizing the oil companies’ huge profits to the tune of billions per year. In essence we’re spending billions of dollars every year to allow multinational oil and gas corporations to plunder American lands. The profits from sales on the world market go to energy companies and Americans foot the bill.

The report comes out just as the hugely controversial Keystone XL Pipeline continues to unfold this month.

The Keystone XL Pipeline would take oil dug up from Canadian forests and shipped across the American heartland – threatening communities from Montana to Louisiana. Much of the tar sands oil that would come from Canada through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline isn’t earmarked for domestic U.S. consumption. The companies at the end of the pipeline are intending to ship much of it to South America, Europe and Asia. Meanwhile, American communities would be ones on the hook for dealing with the aftereffects of a pipeline spill or burst – like the one that threatened the Yellowstone River earlier this year.

So much for energy independence.

It is clear that the fossil fuel companies don’t need the money American taxpayers are giving them in the form of subsidies – especially if they are then just going to ship much of the oil, gas, and coal to Europe and Asia. It is time to bury the ancient and unnecessary fossil fuel subsidies and instead encourage the development of clean energy that will stay right here at home—and ultimately lead to the energy independence we seek.

A good step in that direction is to prevent the destructive Keystone XL Pipeline from being built. Tell President Obama to stop the Keystone XL pipeline!