Land Use Planning and Oil and Gas Leasing on Onshore Federal Lands (1989) / Chapter Skim
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3 Origins of Leasing and Planning
3 Origins of Leasing and Planning
Pages 36-43
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From page 36... ...
plagued the relationship between the planning and environmental assessment requirements of federal law and the federal government's onshore oil and gas leasing program. 1b assist in understanding the issues generated by this uncertainly and controversy, brief histories of both the federal oil and gas leasing and management policies and the federal land planning and environmental assessment policies are offered.
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From page 37... ...
Even though the Mineral Leasing Act was designed to promote oil and gas development, it also authorized the secretary, in the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, "to execute leases which, exercising a reasonable discretion, he may think would promote the public welfare" (United States ~ ret McClennan v.
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From page 38... ...
Thus, unlike the Mineral Leasing Act applicable to minerals in National Forests reserved from public domain land, explicit Forest Service consent was statutorily required for oil and gas leasing on acquired National Forest lands. As noted further below, however, the Reform Act gave the Forest Service a veto over oil and gas leasing on public domain National Forests in 1987.
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From page 39... ...
In the five years prior to the enactment of the Reform Act, up to 15 percent of leases were issued competitively, 20-40 percent of the noncompetitive leases were issued over-the-counter, and 60-80 percent were selected in the lottery (BLM, 1983-1988~. The federal oil and gas leasing practices both historical and presentare discussed more fully in Chapter 6.
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From page 40... ...
1131) of the Wilderness Act: In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for presentation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.
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From page 41... ...
Somewhat curiously, however, the federal onshore oil and gas leasing program escaped judicial scrutiny on NEPA grounds for a decade, even though the federal agencies generally did not prepare EISs on their leasing or management decisions in the oil and gas leasing program, and therefore were vulnerable to challenge under the evolving judicial interpretations of NEPA The agencies occasionally did prepare "environmental analysis reports" (EARs) on some of their decisions approving oil and gas activities.
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From page 42... ...
But, as with NEPA, the onshore federal oil and gas leasing program was not the subject of litigation on ESA grounds until the early 1980s. 3The ESA was substantially overhauled in 1978 after the Supreme Court's decision in the famous "snail darter" case, TVA v.
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From page 43... ...
and the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 USC 1601-1614) both applied to the Forest Service; the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 applied to the BLM.
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