Drilling applications backing up at Bureau of Land Management

[thackney]

Drilling applications backing up at Bureau of Land Management
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/05/17/drilling-applications-backing-up-at-blm/

President Donald Trump’s pledge to open oil and gas drilling on federal lands has hit a bureaucratic log jam.

More than 3,000 applications for drilling permits are  awaiting review at the Bureau of Land Management, according to a report by E&E News, a trade publication.

Acting Director Mike Nedd told E&E the bureau is working on several strategies to speed the processing of applications. “It may be a strike team. It may be shifting the workload to a different office,” he said.

Revenue from oil and gas production on federal lands and waters declined sharply in recent years, after the collapse in commodity prices in 2014. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has ordered staff to review regulations and management to see how production can be increased.

“Every day that goes by while independent producers — companies with an average of 12 employees — wait for their permits to be approved means more money out of their own pockets,” Neal Kirby, spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told E&E.

[thackney]

The Last Step in a Long, Bureaucratic Process
https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/knowledge-center/land/onshore-development/permitting

Only once a company has obtained a lease and completed an environmental analysis under NEPA can it apply for a permit to begin drilling. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 specifies that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must approve Applications for Permit to Drill (APD) within 30 days, yet the average permit time is 220 days. In fact, depending on the field office, it is not uncommon for APDs to take years. Meanwhile, states only take about 30 days to approve their corresponding permits for federal wells.

BLM often points to the number of approved APDs that remain undrilled as proof that they are meeting industry’s permitting needs, when in fact the opposite is true. When it takes BLM months and even years to process permits, companies’ must request several permits well in advance to ensure their rigs don’t go idle. Plans often change in response to market forces and other factors. A frequent situation arises that nearby wells drilled in the interim indicate that other wells in the area are not prospective, and therefore, subsequent APDs are not drilled. If BLM could process a permit in a timely manner, then companies wouldn’t have to request permits so far in advance, and permits would more closely match actual drilling activity...

[thackney]

BLM Finalizes Move to 100 Percent e-Filing of Drilling Permit Applications
https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-finalizes-move-100-percent-e-filing-drilling-permit-applications
December 21, 2016

Final Rule Will Help Make Process More Efficient, Transparent, Cost Effective
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took a significant step today in its multi-year effort to improve the efficiency and transparency of the permitting process for oil and gas drilling.  With the final revision to Onshore Order 1, the agency is making online filing the default method of filing Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs) and Notices of Staking, moving away from paper applications.

Since the BLM began developing the new online permitting system, almost 500 operators representing 70 different companies have provided valuable feedback and taken part in training.  To date, about 200 permits have been reviewed and approved in the system, and another 1,300 are currently being processed.

“Today’s rule concludes another key element of our oil and gas modernization program by moving BLM away from the hardcopy application process,” said BLM Director Neil Kornze.  “This Administration has updated a number of business processes in the oil and gas program that will result in a better and more efficient experience for both industry and the BLM.”

The shift toward e-filing is part of an ongoing effort by the BLM to increase efficiency and transparency of the drilling permit review and approval process.  This regulatory effort complements the BLM’s recent upgrades to its permit processing system.  That new system automates aspects of the process, allows operators to receive real-time feedback on their permits, makes the process more transparent, and enhances the BLM’s ability to manage workflows.  This new system, which was rolled out earlier this year is expected to reduce APD processing times by as much as 50 percent....

[Optiguy]

And once a permit is obtained, heaven help them if they encounter a particular beetle, mouse, bird or any other wildlife when the project begins.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I like what this Acting Director said when appointed:

“We’re going to push all of the energy sources, and my goal is to push all gas, coal, hard-rock, and other minerals and renewable energy, and then we’ll let the market decide which of those energies they want to invest in,” Nedd said. “The minute I start saying we’re going to push one versus the other, then we start picking winners and losers. So we’re going to push all the energy resources, and we’re trying to create that kind of environment.”

[thackney]

I like what this Acting Director said when appointed:

“We’re going to push all of the energy sources, and my goal is to push all gas, coal, hard-rock, and other minerals and renewable energy, and then we’ll let the market decide which of those energies they want to invest in,” Nedd said. “The minute I start saying we’re going to push one versus the other, then we start picking winners and losers. So we’re going to push all the energy resources, and we’re trying to create that kind of environment.”

 :thumbsup2: