Bush Drilling Program Left Huge Backlog
of Contested Leases in Rocky Mountains
By Paul Foy/AP
SALT LAKE CITY — Brian Wixom’s company has paid the U.S. government hundreds of thousands of dollars for leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands, but has yet to put a rig in the ground.
The money sits in a federal bank account as Wixom and other drillers wait for an agonizing bureaucratic process to run its course. The federal government is holding a boatload of money for leases it auctioned and sold but hasn’t issued, holding them back for bureaucratic review because of environmental protests and lawsuits. The backlog grew exponentially under the administration of President George W. Bush as it pushed for more domestic drilling.
The Associated Press has calculated that the government is sitting on close to $100 million paid for millions of acres of energy leases in the Rocky Mountains.
Filed Under: ARCHIVES • Feature Articles • Oil & Gas
Tags: BLM • Bush Administration • Ken Salazar • oil and gas leases
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