In recent years, both rising energy prices and new technologies have led to an increased emphasis on developing oil and gas resources on public lands. First, higher prices have created greater economic incentives to drill for oil and gas. According to the Energy Information Administration, the average of daily New York Mercantile Exchange futures prices for crude oil increased from $19.30 per barrel in 1999 to $41.47 per barrel in 2004. Similarly, average wellhead prices for natural gas in the United States have increased significantly in the past 6 years, increasing from an average of $2.19 per thousand cubic feet in 1999 to an average of $5.49 per thousand cubic feet in 2004. Second, advances in technology have made it more profitable to drill for oil and gas. For example, advances in directional drilling and new techniques for putting wells into production have made it possible to economically produce oil and gas from reservoirs that were previously considered to be uneconomic. Several other events in the past 6 years have also increased the emphasis on developing oil and gas resources on public lands. First, the Energy Act of 2000 directed the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, to prepare a report that provides an inventory of oil and natural gas resources beneath federal lands and to identify the extent and nature of any restrictions or impediments to the development of such resources. Second, the National Energy Policy Report, issued on May 16, 2001, contained many recommendations that were intended to diversify and increase energy supplies, encourage conservation, and ensure energy distribution. For example, this report included recommendations directing the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the ongoing study of impediments to oil and gas development and to examine restrictions on oil and gas leasing and modify these restrictions where opportunities exist, as long as they were consistent with the law, good environmental practice, and balanced use of resources. The National Energy Policy Report also recommended that the President issue an executive order to “rationalize permitting for energy production in an environmentally sound manner by directing federal agencies to expedite permits and other federal actions necessary for energy related project approvals on a national basis.” Accordingly, the President signed Executive Order 13212 (Actions to Expedite Energy-Related Projects) on May 18, 2001, which incorporated these recommendations and established an interagency task force to monitor and assist the agencies in their efforts. Lastly, an oil and gas inventory, which is commonly referred to as the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) Report, was issued in January 2003. The EPCA Report included estimates of oil and gas resources and reserves in five major geologic basins in the interior West and a description of the extent and nature of any restrictions to the development of these resources and reserves. These five basins contain much of the onshore oil resources and the bulk of the onshore natural gas under federal ownership in the contiguous United States. In response to these events, BLM developed a National Energy Policy Implementation Plan that outlined 54 specific tasks intended to facilitate the implementation of the President’s National Energy Policy. A subset of these tasks dealt with BLM’s management of its oil and gas program, including mitigating the environmental impacts of oil and gas development. This subset of tasks formed the basis for a series of BLM instructional memoranda, which among other things, directed BLM field managers to (1) use the results of the EPCA Report to review their restrictions on oil and gas development to make sure they are still relevant and that they were the least restrictive while protecting the environment, (2) improve and streamline the processing of drilling permits for oil and gas wells, and (3) expedite the update of certain resource management plans, including those that are time sensitive because of energy development issues. This subset of tasks also incorporated the agency’s ongoing efforts to enhance its oil and gas inspections and enforcement capabilities, improve its management of idle wells, and encourage the use of best management practices for oil and gas development. If not properly mitigated, the environmental impacts of oil and gas development could compromise BLM’s responsibility for protecting the environment. These environmental impacts range from being site specific—for example, removing several acres of vegetation at an individual well pad—to those that affect a much larger area, such as fragmenting tens of thousands of acres of crucial winter range for mule deer. (See figs. 1 and 2.) Air and water quality are also two resources that can be affected by oil and gas development. Air quality can be degraded by increased dust from newly graded roads, and visibility can be affected in the immediate area and downwind. Air quality can also be degraded by increased nitrogen oxides from diesel engines and compressors used at drilling sites. Surface water quality can be degraded by increased sediment, salt, and other pollutants either from water draining off newly graded surfaces and roads or from the accidental discharge of oil or water produced during oil and gas production. Shallow aquifers can be polluted if required protective measures are not in place, and coal bed methane gas production can deplete shallow aquifers that serve as domestic water sources. Visual resources can also be degraded by a high density of drilling and production equipment that in extreme situations can change the appearance of the landscape from a natural setting to an industrial zone. In addition, the noises, smells, and lights from trucks, drilling and construction equipment, and production facilities can disturb wildlife and people living nearby. The primary method BLM uses to balance resource use and environmental protection is the development of land use plans (called resource management plans) under FLPMA. During the planning process, BLM determines, among other things, which parcels of land will be available for oil and gas development. BLM then publishes a notice that bids will be accepted for leases on these lands. Before approving an oil and gas lease, BLM conducts a review to determine if any restrictions—or stipulations—are necessary to mitigate the impacts from oil and gas production. As provided by BLM regulations, if stipulations are necessary, they are incorporated into the lease. Before an oil and gas company can drill on leased lands, it must submit an application for a drilling permit with BLM. BLM then evaluates the operator’s proposal for drilling to ensure that it conforms to the land use plan and applicable laws and regulations. In approving a specific drilling permit, BLM inspects the proposed drilling site and may add site-specific conditions of approval deemed necessary to protect the environment. In addition, BLM must meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). NEPA requires federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for major federal actions that may have a significant affect on the quality of the human environment. When an agency is not sure whether an activity will have significant impact on the environment, the agency prepares a less detailed environmental assessment (EA). If an environmental assessment determines that the activity will significantly affect the environment, the agency then prepares an EIS. With regard to oil and gas leasing and development, BLM implements NEPA during both the preparation of the resource management plan and at the drilling permit application stage. After BLM approves a drilling permit, the operator can drill the well and commence production. To ensure compliance with all stipulations in the lease and conditions of approval in the permit, as well as applicable laws and regulations, BLM has an inspection and enforcement program that is designed to verify that the operator remains in compliance with the various restrictions at a well site. The authority for inspecting wells is derived from the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, as amended. This act requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop guidelines that specify the coverage and frequency of inspections. Although the driver of BLM’s inspection program is to verify the volumes of oil and gas produced to ensure the federal government is receiving the required royalty payments, the inspection program has evolved over time to include various environmental inspections, as well. BLM tracks data on oil and gas wells and environmental inspections in its centralized database. Environmental inspections are BLM’s primary mechanism to ensure that operators are complying with various environmental laws and lease stipulations. BLM staff conduct environmental inspections in order to protect the surface and subsurface environments. BLM’s natural resource specialists, who generally also have some responsibilities for processing drilling permits, conduct environmental inspections by visiting an individual well or group of wells to assess compliance with lease stipulations and conditions of approval that are written into the drilling permit. (See fig. 3.) BLM managers determine which wells are to be inspected each year through a ranking process that places wells or groups of wells into either high- or low-priority categories, with high-priority wells requiring an annual inspection. Environmental inspection priorities are based on several criteria, including the proximity to an area of special environmental concern, whether noncompliance with lease stipulations or conditions of approval could have a significant impact on the environment, history of noncompliance, or sites that need BLM approval for successful reclamation. If the natural resources staff determine that a violation occurred or is occurring, they can take one of several enforcement actions, including issuance of a verbal or written “incident of noncompliance.” The enforcement actions may carry fines, depending on the severity of the infraction. Another means for BLM to mitigate the impacts of oil and gas development is through monitoring programs that are designed to measure the effectiveness of mitigation measures over a period of time. According to current BLM land use policy, each field office must develop a monitoring schedule in their land use plans to periodically (annually is recommended) revisit land use plan decisions and track progress toward their implementation. The land use plan may also identify intervals and standards for monitoring resources, such as air, water, soils, vegetation, and fish and wildlife; this type of monitoring is referred to as resource monitoring. Since 2003, when the Office of Management and Budget identified, among other things, BLM’s resource monitoring activities as an area that needed improvement, BLM has been developing a National Monitoring Strategy.