BLM Announces Best Management Practices Award Winners

Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke today announced the winners of the 2006 Oil, Gas and Geothermal Development Environmental Best Management Practices (BMP) Awards. The awards recognize oil, gas, and geothermal operators or right-of-way grantees and their partners who are demonstrating leadership and creativity in reducing the impacts of developing natural gas, oil, and geothermal resources on public lands.

Three operators were recognized for their use of BMPs:

• For Distinguished Integration of Environmental BMPs, Anadarko Petroleum and its Gillette, Wyoming, coalbed natural gas operations. Anadarko was recognized for leadership in managing produced water and in constructing underground power supplies.
• In the category of Habitat Conservation BMPs, Plains Exploration and Production Company of Bakersfield, California. The company has collaborated extensively with Federal and State agencies to establish long-term conservation of threatened, endangered, and sensitive species and habitats in western Kern County beyond regulatory requirements and public expectations.
• In the category of Habitat Restoration BMPs, Shell Rocky Mountain Production operation in the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming. Shell voluntarily undertook a sage-grassland restoration project and is developing new practices that restore critical wildlife habitat soon after wells are drilled.

“These companies are in the business of energy development, but they have made the health of the land their business, too,” BLM Director Clarke said. “Their operations illustrate the important principle that we do not have to choose between the health of our environment and the energy we need to keep our country strong and sustain our quality of life.”

Director Clarke presented awards to the winners today at the Rocky Mountain Natural Gas conference in Denver.

This is the first year the BLM has formally recognized achievement in incorporating best management practices in fluid minerals development. The awards will now be given on an annual basis. Operators, regulatory authorities, surface management agencies, Indian Tribes or individual Indian landowners, other private landowners, trade organizations, and members of the general public may nominate operators. Company officials or staff may nominate their own operations.

A panel composed of BLM representatives, the energy industry, and representatives of conservation groups reviews nominations and makes recommendations to the BLM Director.

Environmental BMPs are innovative, dynamic, and economically feasible mitigation measures applied on a site-specific basis to reduce, prevent, or avoid adverse environmental impacts from energy development projects. By reducing the area of disturbance, adjusting the location of facilities, and utilizing various other techniques to minimize environmental effects, oil, gas, and geothermal operators are significantly reducing wildlife habitat and scenic quality impacts associated with new energy development on public lands. More information about BMPs is available at www.blm.gov/bmp.

The BLM 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 agency’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 BLM 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 public lands.

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