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Last updated: 04/04/03

For release February 13, 1997

Contacts:

Lonny Bagley, (406) 255-2847
David Quick, (202) 452-5138

BLM, IOGCC Work To Increase Federal-State Coordination in Oil and Gas Regulation

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) have identified and discussed areas where the Bureau and the States can reduce duplication, streamline processes, and create efficiencies in regulating oil and gas operations, BLM Interim Director Sylvia Baca announced today.

"The BLM and the IOGCC are committed to reinventing government," said Baca, who noted that representatives of both organizations met recently in Phoenix, Arizona, to discuss oil and gas issues. "We are encouraged about this cooperative effort. It supports the goals of the National Performance Review by streamlining the regulatory process and by increasing Federal-State cooperation. We believe it will result in better regulations that are applied more consistently across the nation."

The BLM and the IOGCC identified the following as areas where they can work better together:

• Conducting outreach to inform the public and industry of regulatory requirements and to collect comments on what Federal and State officials should be doing;
  
• Increasing interagency partnerships and improving coordination;
  
• Creating incentives for industry compliance and also identifying and removing, as appropriate, existing disincentives;
  
• Exploring ways to provide better customer service;
  
• Developing common oil and gas data management systems; and
  
• Reducing regulatory burdens by eliminating duplication and striving for consensus on requirements.

"We have already implemented or are implementing many of the oil- and gas-related recommendations that resulted from the Performance Review we undertook two years ago," said W. Hord Tipton, BLM Assistant Director for Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection. "However, this is the first major initiative to involve the State Governments in our oil and gas regulatory process."

In the next phase of this effort, a series of outreach meetings will be held with industry, environmental groups and the public to discuss what took place at the Phoenix meeting; to update the Bureau's performance initiatives; to get input from interested parties; and to set priorities for action. Outreach sessions are being planned for Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Jackson, Mississippi; Billings, Montana; Casper and Cheyenne, Wyoming; Sacramento, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Salt Lake City, Utah. After completing the outreach meetings, the IOGCC and the BLM plan to meet and focus on the key priority areas.

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