Nominations Open for Award Recognizing
Responsible Fluid Mineral Development
The Bureau of Land Management is currently accepting nominations for
the 2005 Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Development Environmental Best Management
Practices (BMPs) Awards. The awards recognize oil, gas, and geothermal
operators or rights-of-way grantees and their partners, as well as local
BLM Field Offices and their partners who demonstrate leadership and creativity
in reducing the impacts of oil, gas, and geothermal development.
“The BMP awards program is a way to recognize operators for their
creativity and sensitivity in conducting oil and gas operations in an
environmentally sound manner,” said Tom Lonnie, BLM Assistant Director
for Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection. “As we work to ensure
America’s future energy security, best management practices help
preserve other important land-based resources, such as wildlife habitat
and scenic landscapes.”
Nominees should exemplify responsible fluid mineral resource development
on BLM- managed public lands, other Federal agency lands, Indian trust
lands, or on split-estate lands where the surface is privately owned and
the BLM manages the sub-surface mineral estate.
External awards will be presented to one or more operators or right-of-way
grantees supporting fluid minerals development and their partners. Internal
awards will be given to one or more BLM Field Offices and their partners.
Nominations for both categories will be accepted through October 1, 2005.
For this first year of the BMP Award, there will be no limitation on when
the BMPs were first put into use.
Operators, regulatory authorities, surface management agencies, Tribes,
trade organizations, nearby landowners, individual Indian mineral owner,
and members of the general public may nominate operators or BLM Field
Offices. Company officials and employees and BLM Field Office managers
and staff may nominate their own operations. A panel consisting of representatives
of the BLM, the energy industry, and conservation groups will review nominations.
Awards will be presented in the fall or winter of 2005.
Nominations must contain all of the information listed in the “BMP
Awards Program Announcement” at www.blm.gov/bmp
and indicate the award category for the nomination. Nominations should
be sent to the BLM State Office with jurisdiction for the lands where
the operation is located.
BMPs are innovative, dynamic, and economically feasible mitigation measures
applied on a site-specific basis to reduce, prevent, or avoid adverse
environmental impacts. By reducing the area of disturbance, adjusting
the location of facilities and utilizing various other techniques to minimize
environmental effects, BLM and oil, gas, and geothermal operators are
significantly reducing wildlife habitat and scenic quality impacts associated
with new energy development. More information about BMPs is available
at www.blm.gov/bmp.
The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more
land – 261 million surface acres – than any other Federal
agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including
Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion, also administers
700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.
The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity
of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation,
livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by
conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public
lands.
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