Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: January 17, 2001

Contact: Mike Gauldin (202) 208-6416

STRONG RECORD FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION
ON FEDERAL LANDS DURING CLINTON ADMINISTRATION

The Interior Department has maintained a robust energy production program on our public lands at the same time that it has taken steps to protect special lands through both Congressional and administrative action. The Department's oil, gas and coal program, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management and the Minerals Management Service, has continued energy development on federal lands at a pace that matches, or exceeds, production levels during the Reagan years, and during the previous Bush Administration.

Secretary Babbitt commented that "The facts tell a clear story: the President's actions in protecting special landscapes will not adversely affect our nation's ability to produce energy on those federal lands that are appropriate for oil, gas or coal development. We are producing more energy from our federal lands than ever before, but we are doing so in a prudent manner."

The protection of special lands in this Administration through Congressional action, or under the Antiquities Act, will not have an impact on the continuation of appropriate energy development on federal lands. The lands set aside as national monuments are not currently relied upon for significant energy supplies, and the amount of Bureau of Land Management land that the President has placed in protected status amounts to less than 2% of the BLM lands that are potentially available for energy development.

The Administration's record in promoting responsible oil and gas development in Alaska also is strong. The Interior Department offered for lease nearly 4 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, the largest federal lease sale in Alaska since the mid-1950s. Secretary Babbitt commented that "it is outrageous for the oil and gas industry to clamor for access to the pristine lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at the same time that industry has barely begun to tap the significant new resources made available during this Administration in the National Petroleum Reserve."

The Interior Department also supports the natural gas industry's utilization of the 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas supplies that are currently available in the Prudhoe Bay area. Despite the availability of this enormous block of Alaskan natural gas, however, the oil and gas industry has not invested in infrastructure to bring this gas to market. Instead, it continues to request access to the pristine lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to explore for additional supplies of oil and gas.

Secretary Babbitt summarized: "These facts demonstrate that the industry's request to open up the Arctic Refuge is a political issue, not an energy issue. Drilling should not be allowed in the Refuge. Readily-available natural gas supplies should be brought to market, and exploration and development should go forward in the National Petroleum Reserve while we preserve the Arctic Refuge -- one of the last, unspoiled, intact ecosystems in the world."

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