1. Professor Charles Davis Department of Political Science Colorado State University Ft. Collins, CO 80523 charles.davis@colostate.edu

2.  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?

4.  Enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 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

5.  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

6.  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

7. Table 1. BLM Use of Categorical Exclusions (CEs) to Expedite Oil & Gas Drilling Bush Administration Obama Administration Year # of CEs Year # of CEs 2006 1,623 2009 1,793 2007 2,248 2010 361 2008 1,935 2011 387 ____ ____ 2012 393 ____ ____ 2013 298 ____ ____ 2014 411 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. 11-941T and additional data provided by staff in BLM’s Washington DC Office.

8.  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.

9. 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 2004 13 5,650 9,963 753 2005 13 6,005 7,686 601 2006 13 6,361 13,504 1,007 2007 17 5,041 13,826 809 2008 18 5,069 16,622 890 2009 27 3,379 16,947 626 2010 40 2,399 18,608 471 2011 32 3,019 20,125 631 Source: Western Organization of Resource Councils (2013). *Totals reflect BLM resources and activities in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

11.  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.