05-07-06

A US House proposal requiring the government to buy back energy leases -- and pay restitution in some cases -- if it delays action is part of the latest effort by some members of Congress to remove barriers to extracting vast oil and gas resources beneath public lands.
Another measure in the House bill would give potentially millions of dollars in royalty breaks to the oil shale and tar sand industries.

Demand for oil and gas resources is intense because of high prices and a push to develop domestic energy sources. Industry officials told Congress that natural gas production from reserves in the Rockies is projected to double in the next 20 years, surpassing production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bill supporters say they just don't want government to unnecessarily hold up energy development.

The lease buy-back provision "makes Uncle Sam live up to his end of a lawful contract," said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif.
Conservation groups question whether government could or should go faster. Bureau of Land Management director Kathleen Clarke recently told a Senate committee that her agency, which oversees much of the nation's onshore public oil and gas reserves, faces an "uphill battle" to process applications as fast as they come in.

BLM offices are grappling with an avalanche of permits and in some cases high turnover. Conservation and sportsmen's groups are already complaining the agency is neglecting its environmental duties to keep up with the permits.
"It's a race to the bottom for the environment," said Matt Garrington, field director for Environment Colorado. "This is a 'lease now and ask questions later' policy."