WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies eager to drill in the Rocky Mountain West appear to have an ally in the Bush administration, which is approving wells at a pace well ahead of the Clinton administration and looking to get even faster.
An Associated Press review of thousands of applications to drill on Bureau of Land Management land since 1998 shows a 34 percent increase in the number of wells approved under Bush when compared with the last three years of the Clinton administration.
The vast majority of the permits, 94 percent since 2001, are clustered in five states: Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — a key region in the administration's push to open more public land for energy development.
The BLM has received nearly 26,000 applications to drill wells and approved nearly 19,000 since 1998 — nearly three of every four. BLM land and other federal land managed by the Interior Department contain an estimated 68 percent of nation's gas reserves and 74 percent of oil resources. The AP review covered detailed BLM records over the last three years and summary information dating to 1998.
A flood of permits has strained the BLM's meager resources, creating a backlog of applications industry officials say is leading to shortages and higher gas prices.
To answer the critics, the Interior Department is seeking to speed up the process.
"We are blessed with vast resources. We have a stewardship responsibility to produce it and I think the American public expects us to produce it," said Patricia Morrison, the agency's principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals.
The BLM controls 262 million acres of land and 700 million acres of subsurface rights, with an annual budget of about $2 billion and 10,000 employees — but it isn't enough these days.
The BLM field office in Buffalo, Wyo., has been swamped by the oil and gas stampede. It handles permits for the frenzied coal-bed methane development of the Powder River Basin, where the agency expects to issue 3,000 permits in the coming year and methane is so shallow wells can be punched with rigs used to drill for water.
Four years ago, 23 people worked at the Buffalo office. The number has more than tripled to 76 to handle the demand, more than 4,000 permit applications in the last three years.
Dennis Stenger, field manager of the office, said his staff has been aggressive in trying to get faster, issuing permits to clusters of wells to avoid redundant environmental and cultural studies. That practice and others were adopted BLM-wide in a series of directives issued in April aimed at improving the permit process.
Without unforeseen delays, the office can generally get permits processed in 46 days, Stenger said. "You can't streamline much more" without changing the environmental laws, he said.
Federal regulations, however, say the BLM is supposed to process permits in 30 days or less. The industry notes that a state like Colorado can often process permits to drill on state lands in as little as 10 days.
The AP review found it takes the BLM much longer — an average of 89 days over the last three years, excepting applications still pending at the end of the 2003 budget year.
Morrison said the numbers don't reflect delays caused by companies amending or withdrawing an application. But she conceded that permits are taking too long to handle for the liking of industry — and government.
"That's exactly what we're trying to address," Morrison said.
The AP review found that, during the first 33 months of the Bush administration, the BLM approved 9,876 wells, or about 299 per month. In the final 40 months of the Clinton presidency, 8,934 wells were approved, or 223 per month.
The volume of permit applications has also grown fairly steadily, from 3,790 in 1998 to 4,715 in 2003. The number approved has fluctuated some, but has generally increased as well.
Oil and gas companies contributed nearly $2 million to Bush's 2000 campaign and have already given nearly $1 million to his re-election bid, according to campaign finance records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The industry has contributed $29 million to political campaigns since 1999, with roughly 80 percent going to Republicans.
Billions of dollars are at stake: A recent industry study by IHS Energy estimated an additional 264 million cubic feet of natural gas per day could be in production by August 2004 if the BLM were able to wipe out its backlog in six months and begin consistently processing permits in 45 days. The Energy Department has estimated that, over the next two decades, gas consumption will grow by more than 50 percent, while production would grow by just 14 percent if it continues at its current rate.
Dave Alberswerth, a public lands expert with The Wilderness Society, said the BLM simply doesn't have the funding and personnel to handle the increase in permit applications. He also said drilling in the West remains steady, despite the industry's grievances.
"Their theory seems to be that the obstructions and impediments are the environmental safeguards," he said. "From our perspective that's the wrong way to go. They should not be cutting corners on environmental protections to issue oil and gas drilling permits faster."
Krista Mutch, director of government affairs for the Denver-based Western Gas Resources company, said the industry has no plans to eliminate environmental safeguards.
"What we are suggesting is we all are seeking to increase the efficiency in the way we do our work," Mutch said. "The BLM is frankly not in the 21st century from a technological perspective."
Congress has heard the industry complaints.
In the energy bill Republicans expect to revive next year, the BLM would receive an additional $1.5 million to reduce the permit backlog in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Utah during the coming year. There are other provisions intended to speed things up, including the creation of a White House task force to coordinate energy projects, initiatives targeting the most crowded offices and tighter deadlines.