By Dennis Webb/Original Source

The Bureau of Land Management has improved its oil and gas inspection and enforcement program, but it remains inadequate, according to a report released Thursday.

The Western Organization of Resource Councils report updates a 2004 study reviewing state and federal oil and gas inspection and enforcement programs in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming. The update focuses solely on BLM programs in six field offices in those states, including the Grand Junction office.

The group found that after a relatively stable period, environmental inspections nationwide increased 86 percent in the 2007 fiscal year over the previous year. Inspections by the Grand Junction office rose from 67 to 362. Nevertheless, the six field offices conducted just 15 percent of the required high-priority environmental inspections in fiscal year 2007, the group said. The number of these inspections more than doubled since the 1999 fiscal year.

The group said high-priority sites require annual inspections because of special environmental, reclamation or other concerns.

It said the Grand Junction Field Office conducted just 18 of 313 required high-priority inspections in the 2007 fiscal year. The group said the number of written orders, which reflect problems identified during inspections, was nearly four times higher nationwide in the 2007 fiscal year compared to the 1999 fiscal year.

The BLM opened a Glenwood Springs Energy Office as a result of the 2005 energy bill.

The Western Organization of Resource Councils’ members include the Western Colorado Congress. In a teleconference Thursday, Western Colorado Congress member Peggy Utesch
said the BLM’s inspection and enforcement program remains “abysmal.”

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.