Democrats tell feds to crack down on illegal drilling

Fuel Fix
By Jennifer Dhlouhy
October 10, 2014

WASHINGTON — Federal land managers need to work harder to prevent oil companies from illegally burrowing into federal mineral estate, four House Democrats say.

In a letter to Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze, the Democrats note that the potential economic and environmental costs of a practice known as “drilling without approval” can be substantial — as much as $530,000 annually in lost royalties to North Dakota alone.

Although some bureau offices “have taken effective and commendable steps in the right direction, a consistent national policy with robust enforcement mechanism should be strongly considered by BLM as a way to protect taxpayers and environmental resources across the nation,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Rush Holt of New Jersey and Jared Huffman and Alan Lowenthal, both of California.

A recent report from the Interior Department’s inspector general highlighted the problem of illegal mineral extraction and drilling on federal lands. Sometimes oil companies, whose wells may have long underground laterals extending thousands of feet, are unaware they are draining federal mineral estate.

And the BLM may not know about it either, according to the probe, because the agency does not have any standard practice for discovering unauthorized drilling. Even when it does discover illegal drilling is underway, low penalties are unlikely to act as much of a deterrent, the report suggested.

The four lawmakers, all members of the House Natural Resources Committee, acknowledged that they also play a role in making sure the BLM has enough funding and staff to track down illegal drilling.

“Your ability to properly guard against trespass and drilling without authorization, while attempting to meet your other obligations related to the federal oil and gas program, such as inspecting all high-risk wells, is dependent on Congress providing adequate funding levels,” the lawmakers said. “Unfortunately, the BLM oil and gas program has been chronically underfunded.”

Proposals to hike fees for oil and gas activities on federal land have not advanced in Congress.