Buffalo Field Office
| Contacts: | Lesley A. Collins 307-261-7603 |
JM Huber Wins BLM Best Management Practices Award
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Buffalo Field Office announced that JM Huber Corp. is one of six operators who won the Bureau of Land Management 2009 Oil, Gas, Geophysical, and Geothermal Development Environmental Best Management Practices (BMP) Awards.
The awards recognize those oil, gas, geophysical, and geothermal operators and their partners who demonstrate leadership and creativity in reducing the impacts of developing natural gas, oil, and geothermal resources on public lands nationwide.
JM Huber Corp. was recognized for Best Overall Use of BMPs for its work in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. In the basin, vast amounts of coal bed natural gas (CBNG) resources are readily available and are currently being produced. However, other resource values, such as wildlife, vegetation, and highly erodible soils, can also be found within this region.
According to Buffalo Field Manager Duane Spencer, "JM Huber takes a pro-active approach to include BMPs in their production of coalbed natural gas."
To ensure that development proposals are environmentally sound prior to developing leases, JM Huber conducts early coordination meetings with the local BLM field office to incorporate the BLM’s resource concerns into the design of the project. This pre-planning speeds the project approval process. A few of the BMPs JM Huber applies include the use of a variety of alternatives for produced water disposal, minimizing surface impacts by boring pipelines through areas of steep topography and limiting the footprint of the drilling location, expedient interim reclamation of disturbed areas as well as application of a self monitoring and reporting compliance program.
The BLM presents annual BMP awards. In this case, JM Huber was nominated by BLM’s Buffalo Field Office. 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 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 using other techniques to minimize environmental effects, oil, gas, geophysical, and geothermal operators are significantly reducing environmental impacts associated with new energy development on public lands. More information about BMPs is available at www.blm.gov/bmp.
More information about the BMP award program and a video profile of the 2009 winners are available at: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/best_management_practices/bmp_awards.html
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. 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 public lands.
Buffalo Field Office 1425 Fort Street Buffalo, WY 82834