Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced policy changes he said will bring more scrutiny and greater public voice in how oil and gas leases are awarded on public lands.Salazar said the changes should ensure stricter environmental standards in oil and gas leasing while bringing more clarity to the process to energy companies hoping to drill on public lands, mostly in Western states.
"We don't believe we ought to be drilling anywhere and everywhere," Salazar said at a news conference. "We believe we need a balanced approach and a thoughtful approach" that allows development of oil and gas leases on public lands while also protecting national parks, endangered species and municipal watersheds.
Salazar, a former Democratic senator from Colorado, criticized the Bush administration for what he called a "headlong rush" to lease public lands. Early last year, Salazar suspended 60 of 77 leases in Utah approved in that administration's waning days.
The changes announced Wednesday are intended to bring greater consistency and public engagement to onshore oil and gas leasing, Salazar said, with a goal of reducing legal challenges that have cost taxpayers millions of dollars and energy companies months or even years of delays.
About 1 percent of oil and gas leases on public lands were protested in 1998, he said -- a figure that jumped to about 40 percent in 2008. The main reason for the increase was that leases were offered in places where they should not have been or without enough agency scrutiny or public participation, Salazar said.
"In the prior administration the oil and gas industry was the king of the world. Whatever they wanted happened," Salazar said, adding that those days are over.
Democrats and environmental groups hailed the announcement, saying it marked a significant step toward a balanced, common-sense approach to energy development on public lands.