The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
 |
|
The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
|
|
Last updated: 03/06/06
| Bureau of Land Management For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 2, 2006 |
Contacts:
|
BLM to Hold Listening Session in Washington on Split Estate IssuesAs part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to implement the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Bureau of Land Management will hold a listening session in Washington, D.C. on issues surrounding development of Federally-owned oil and natural gas resources that underlie privately owned surface lands. This session will follow a series of similar meetings held in Western States to gather ideas and recommendations for implementing the split estate provisions in the Act. Congress directed the BLM to review current policies and practices for managing so-called “split-estate” situations in consultation with affected private landowners, the oil and gas industry, and other interested parties. A listening session will be held on Friday, March 31, 2006, in the Rachel Carson Room of the Main Interior Department Building, 1849 C Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C. from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The session will begin with an overview of the split estate provisions of the Energy Policy Act and current split estate practices, policies, regulations, and laws that guide management of the Federal mineral estate. Participants who request to speak will then be provided a set amount of time to provide their recommendations. Participants should plan to allow enough time to go through security at the Main Interior Building. Non-Interior Department employees must use the C Street entrance. Visitors must show picture ID, sign in, have all belongings scanned, and walk through the security checkpoint. Government employees should present official ID and also be prepared to have briefcases and other carry-in items inspected. Once through security, take the first bank of elevators down to basement. Proceed down the corridor to the first entrance to the cafeteria, on the left before the stairway. The entrance to the Rachel Carson Room is then the last door on the left. “Our goal is to ensure reasonable access to the energy supplies that meet the Nation’s growing needs while minimizing the impact on privately owned surface,” said Deputy BLM Director Jim Hughes. “The Washington listening session will build on and complement the ideas from the earlier sessions about the possibility of updating current policies and procedures for managing Federal oil and natural gas resources in split estate.” Listening sessions are also being held this month in Albuquerque, N.M.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Casper, Wyo.; and Miles City, Mont. Background information on split estate issues and preliminary drafts of a report to Congress are available on the BLM Split Estate website: www.blm.gov/bmp. Comments may also be submitted by e-mail splitestate@blm.gov through April 1, 2006. The team writing the report to Congress will carefully consider all comments and recommendations received by e-mail and at listening sessions in preparing a final version. The BLM manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate nationwide, including approximately 58 million acres where the surface is privately owned. In many cases, surface rights and mineral rights were severed under the terms of Federal homesteading laws, such as the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916. Managing the Federal mineral estate, along with 261 million surface acres, gives the BLM a central role in implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Acting as steward of numerous energy resources – coal, oil and gas, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind, and biomass energy resources – is part of the agency’s multiple-use mission to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
|
