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2010 Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Development Environmental Best Management Practices Awards Program United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management
The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the fifth annual Oil, Gas, Geophysical, and Geothermal Development Environmental Best Management Practices (BMP) Awards Program to promote and showcase the finest examples of responsible fluid mineral resource development on BLM-managed public lands, other Federal agency lands, Indian Trust lands, or Federal split estate lands where the surface is privately owned and the BLM manages the mineral estate. The 2010 BMP awards will recognize oil, gas, geophysical, and geothermal operators and their partners who demonstrate leadership and creativity in reducing the impacts of oil, gas, geophysical, and geothermal development. The BMP Awards Program will serve as an important component of the BLM’s overall approach to ensuring that energy development is conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. For current information on the Awards Program, visit http://www.blm.gov/bmp.
What are BMPs?
Environmental BMPs are state-of-the-art mitigation measures applied on a site-specific basis to reduce, prevent, or avoid adverse environmental or social impacts. By reducing the area of disturbance, adjusting the location of facilities, and utilizing various other techniques to minimize environmental effects, the BLM and oil, gas, geophysical, and geothermal operators are significantly reducing impacts to wildlife, soil, water, air, and scenic quality that may be associated with new energy development.
Leadership in the Use of Oil, Gas, Geophysical, or Geothermal Environmental BMPs
Awards will be presented to one or more fluid mineral operators and its partners, as applicable, to publicly recognize environmental leadership and stewardship through the use of environmental BMPs in oil, gas, geophysical, or geothermal operations and development. These awards recognize continuous achievements in utilizing BMPs to successfully meet or exceed Federal, state, or local environmental protection requirements with minimal oversight. Those eligible for the BMP award include oil, gas, geophysical, or geothermal operators or partnerships entered into by operators. Nominees must clearly demonstrate a commitment to excellence by putting into practice outstanding examples of BMPs for minimizing impacts to the land, resources, or communities. BMPs must have been implemented in 2008 or 2009. It is anticipated that awards will be presented at an oil and gas conference in 2010.
How do I nominate a company for an award?
Operators, regulatory authorities, surface management agencies (such as the BLM, U. S. Forest Service, and state agencies), tribes, trade organizations, landowners, individual Indian mineral owners, and members of the general public may nominate operators for these awards. Company officials and employees may nominate their own operations for recognition.
Nominations must contain all of the information listed in the “What should the nomination contain?” section of this announcement and indicate the award category for the nomination. Nominations must be sent to the BLM State Office with jurisdiction for public lands in the state where the operation is located. Nominations will be accepted by the BLM State Officesuntil December 1, 2009. Contact information, including the addresses for these State Offices and areas of their jurisdiction are shown in the following table.
BLM State Office and Mailing Address
Area of Jurisdiction
Alaska State Office Bureau of Land Management Division of Energy and Solid Minerals 222 West 7th Avenue, # 13 Anchorage. AK 99513-7599 (907) 271 –5960
Contact: Greg J. Noble
Alaska
Arizona State Office Bureau of Land Management Renewable and Mineral Resources Group 1 North Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85004-2203 (602) 417-9200
Contact: Jeff Garrett
Arizona
California State Office Bureau of Land Management Branch of Energy and Minerals 2800 Cottage Way, W1834 Sacramento, CA 95825 (916) 978-4400
Contact: Jim Haerter
California
Colorado State Office Bureau of Land Management Fluid Minerals 2850 Youngfield Street Lakewood, CO 80215-7093 (303) 239-3600
Contact: Sherri Thompson
Colorado
Eastern States State Office Bureau of Land Management Energy and Minerals 7450 Boston Boulevard Springfield, VA 22153 (703) 440-1600
Contact: Steve Klimetz
Subsurface Federal Lands in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin
Idaho State Office Bureau of Land Management Minerals 1387 South Vinnell Way Boise, ID 83709-1657 (208) 373-3889
Contact: Karen Porter
Idaho
Montana State Office Bureau of Land Management Branch of Fluid Minerals 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101 (406) 896-5004
Contact: John Brown
Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota
Nevada State Office Bureau of Land Management Fluid Minerals Team 1340 Financial Boulevard Reno, NV 89502 (PO Box 12000, Reno, NV 89520-0006) (775) 861-6400
Contact: John Menghini Nevada
New Mexico State Office Bureau of Land Management Oil and Gas Program 1474 Rodeo Drive Santa Fe, NM 87505-0115 (505) 438-7400
Contact: Jay Spielman
Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
Oregon State Office Bureau of Land Management Fluid Minerals 333 SW 1st Avenue PO. Box 2965 Portland, OR 97208-2965 (503) 808-6001
Contact: Tom Wawro
Oregon and Washington
Utah State Office Bureau of Land Management Branch of Fluid Minerals 324 South State Street P.O. Box 45155 Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0155 (801) 539-4001
Contact: Mike McKinley
Utah
Wyoming State Office Bureau of Land Management Fluid Minerals Section 5353 Yellowstone Road PO. Box 1828 Cheyenne, WY 82003 (307) 775-6256
Contact: Darryl Watts
Wyoming and Nebraska
What should the nomination contain?
Each nomination must include the following:
Cover sheet containing:
Name of the nominated company.
Name and location of the project area(s), if applicable.
Contact information for the person or company or organization representative making the nomination including name, affiliation, address, telephone number, and email address.
Contact information for the oil, gas, geophysical, or geothermal company, if different from above.
Narrative description that includes information such as:
Description of the specific BMP activity or practice, including specifics, where applicable, on leadership, creativity, problems, solutions, extent of BMP use, approximate costs, partnering, land ownership, and unusual circumstances.
History of why the BMP was selected, including whether it was required by the agency or voluntarily proposed by the operator.
Short- and long-term benefits of the BMP(s) to the environment or community.
Effectiveness of the work, quantified where possible.
Transferability of the work or value of the accomplishments to other oil, gas, geophysical, or geothermal operations.
A list of references, including telephone numbers of individuals who can validate the successful use of the BMP(s).
Statement summarizing why the award is deserved.
Photographs
Printed photographs as well as photographs on a CD are highly encouraged. The photographs will help to document the success of the nominated activity. Photographs should include a description and the year the photograph was taken. The BLM would like to use your photographs for training, outreach, and publicity purposes, therefore a signed statement that the photographs are released for public use, is appreciated.
Submission Format
Please submit three copies of the nomination on 8½” by 11” paper. You are asked to limit nominations to 10 pages or less of typed text. There is no limit on the number of photographs.
Supporting documentation, such as letters of recognition from regulators or community officials or newspaper articles, is not required, but may be submitted with the nomination.
Each BLM State Office will review the nominations submitted to that office and verify that the information contained in the nomination and that the operation or program complies with applicable regulations and permits. All nominations will be accompanied by a Statement of Findings prepared by the BLM State Office and will be forwarded to the BLM Washington Office for referral to a panel of judges.
The panel of judges may be composed of energy industry and natural resource experts including individuals from Federal agencies, academic institutions, trade and conservation groups, and/or the public. Judges typically evaluate award nominations based on: effectiveness of the project or program; transferability of the technique, practice, or program; short- and long-term benefits of the BMP(s) to the environment or community; difficulty presented by the problem addressed by the project or program; extent to which the project or program exceeds regulatory requirements or public expectations; and clarity and thoroughness of the nomination. The judges will use their personal experiences when evaluating the unique aspects of each application. Their final recommendations will be reviewed for approval by the BLM.
Important Dates
Nominations for the 2010 awards program must be filed with the BLM State Offices by December 1, 2009. The BLM State Offices will review and forward all nominations to the BLM Washington Office by January 4, 2009. It is anticipated that results will be formally announced at an oil and gas conference in 2010.
For Additional Information
BLM – Bryce Barlan, Natural Resource Specialist, Division of Minerals (WO-310), bryce_barlan@blm.gov, or by telephone at 202-912-7154
U.S. Forest Service – Barry Burkhardt, Assistant Director for Leasable Minerals, bburhhardt@fs.fed.us, or by telephone at 303-275-5147.
