U.S. Department of the Interior

MEDIA ADVISORY

Interior Department Holds Media Briefing on Oil
and Gas Inventory Report to Congress, Jan. 16

WASHINGTON -- Interior's Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Rebecca Watson will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003, to discuss the details of an inventory of oil and gas resources in five U.S. western basins. The briefing will be held at the Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., at 12 p.m., in Room 5160.

The interagency scientific inventory was prepared at the request of Congress and former President Clinton under provisions of the 2000 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The inventory examined energy resources located in five major geologic basins in the interior West: the Paradox/San Juan Basins in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico; the Uinta/Piceance Basins in Colorado and Utah; the Greater Green River Basin in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah; the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming; and the Montana Thrust Belt in Montana.

The EPCA inventory includes lands managed by all federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and the National Park Service. It also includes privately owned lands where the federal government owns the subsurface minerals.

Who: Rebecca Watson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management
Representatives from the Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey,
the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service

What: News media briefing to discuss EPCA inventory presented to Congress

Where: Department of the Interior, 1849 C St. N.W., Washington, D.C. Location: Room 5160

When: Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003, at 12 p.m.

Note to Editors: Reporters interested in covering the briefing should enter through the C Street Entrance. Photo ID will be required at the lobby security desk.