Rahall Pushes to Open Oil Fields, Congressman Leads Fight to Push Big Companies
By JAKE STUMP
DAILY MAIL CAPITOL REPORTER
Congressman Nick Rahall is telling big oil companies to “use it or lose it.”
Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced legislation last week that gives those companies an ultimatum: Start producing oil on their 68 million acres of inactive land or risk federal restrictions on future lease requests.
A report by the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, which Rahall chairs, states that oil and gas companies hold leases to 68 million acres of federal land and waters, spread out all across the country, that are not producing anything. An additional 4.8 million barrels of oil could be produced daily if the land was utilized, the report says.
Rahall told the Daily Mail that oil companies should be held accountable much like coal companies, which are required by federal law to develop their leases.
“Companies that lease federal coal resources are required, as a result of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976, to diligently develop their leases,” Rahall said. “This requirement has discouraged the rampant speculation on federal coal as a result of the energy crises of the 1970s – the same type of speculation that now appears to be plaguing the federal oil and gas leasing program.”
Rahall added, “I am calling their bluff here – we are not going to continue to allow big oil to speculate and profiteer with public resources at the expense of the American people.”
Utilizing the 68 million acres would nearly double domestic oil production, the report concludes. It could also produce 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, increasing production by 75 percent.
Oil production on these lands has the potential of cutting U.S. oil imports by more than one-third, according to the report.
Rahall’s bill would bar companies from obtaining future leases unless they produce on inactive lands or give up those leases.
“Oil and gas companies have been allowed to stockpile leases in a non-producing status, while leaving millions of acres of leased land untouched,” Rahall said.
As gasoline and oil prices spiral out of control, some politicians and economists contend this is the perfect time to push for domestic drilling in areas such as Alaska and off the U.S. coasts.
Rahall’s committee report acknowledges that increased domestic drilling could affect gas prices, yet there is no justification to open additional federal lands because oil and gas companies aren’t making use of what they have leased.
Also, the Bureau of Land Management has issued 28,776 permits for public drilling in the past four years, though only 18,954 wells were actually drilled. That means oil and gas companies have stockpiled nearly 10,000 drilling permits.
Increased drilling is occurring in West Virginia, too. More than twice as many gas and oil drilling permits are being issued in West Virginia today than 10 years ago. From January to May, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued 1,332 drilling permits. In 1999, only 649 were issued within that timeframe.
“The debate currently being waged in Congress, however, is over drilling on public lands owned by all Americans, not private lands,” Rahall said. “While some of my colleagues argue that opening up more federal lands to oil and gas drilling is needed to rein in energy prices, a close look at the facts prove that oil and gas companies are not even able to keep pace with the drilling permits that the federal government has already handed out.”
Rahall’s bill, the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008, is cosponsored by Reps. Rahm Emmanuel, D-Ill.; Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and John Yarmuth, D-Ky.
Contact writer Jake Stump at jakestump@dailymail.com or 348- 4842.
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