Professor Charles Davis Department of Political Science Colorado State University Ft. Collins, CO

 Policy tools used by BLM in the regulation of oil and gas drilling include rulemaking, planning, environmental impact analyses & inspections/ enforcement  Which tools are utilized more often under Presi- dents Bush and Obama to push for (a greater oil and gas production on BLM lands or for (b land use decisions placing greater emphasis on environ- mental protection or the conservation of natural resources?

 Enactment of the Energy Policy Act of Section 390 allows for greater use of “catego- rical exemptions” to bypass environmental analysis for proposed energy projects  Greatly expanded approval of applications to drill and permits  Lesser emphasis on environmental inspections

 More emphasis on examining environmental impacts of proposed fracking operations  BLM rule to regulate fracking on federal lands  Developed master leasing plans to guide leasing decisions on larger land tracts  More emphasis on environmental inspections

 Uses FrackFocus to track industry disclosure of fracking fluid used in drilling operations  Grants regulatory waiver to states that have adopted & operated similar programs  Standards for managing flowback waters  Standards for ensuring wellbore integrity

Table 1. BLM Use of Categorical Exclusions (CEs) to Expedite Oil & Gas Drilling Bush Administration Obama Administration Year # of CEs Year # of CEs , , , , ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Sources: U.S. General Accountability Office. (2011). Energy Policy Act of 2005: BLM’s Use of Section 390 Categorical Exclusions for Oil and Gas Development. Report No T and additional data provided by staff in BLM’s Washington DC Office.

 The purpose of an MLP is to identify natural resource values for larger land tracts prior to issuing leases so that stakeholder groups would have greater input in land use decisions.  This, in turn, should reduce the number of unanticipated impacts from drilling and delays arising from land use conflicts.

Table 2. BLM Inspection Resources and Activities in Five Western States* Year Number of Field Number of Wells Inspections Number of Inspections Inspectors** per Inspector Conducted per Inspector ,650 9, ,005 7, ,361 13,504 1, ,041 13, ,069 16, ,379 16, ,399 18, ,019 20, Source: Western Organization of Resource Councils (2013). *Totals reflect BLM resources and activities in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

 Under Bush, BLM emphasized increased production by exercising discretionary authority, exempting environmental impact analyses for proposed drilling projects and limiting enforcement of environmental laws.  Under Obama, BLM has put more weight on environmental protection by limiting the approval of categorical exclusions, adopting a new fracking rule for drilling operations on federal lands and expanding the number of onsite environmental inspections.  Selection of policy tools allows BLM to continue working with traditional subgovernmental participants or to move toward a more inclusive institutional arrangement that offers greater competition between energy a nd environmental policy coalitions.