“Delays in land management decisions create uncertainty for local businesses and communities, jeopardizing job growth.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in a letter to the Department of the Interior (DOI), Governor Dave Freudenthal, U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis criticized new DOI guidelines that could jeopardize jobs and coal production in Wyoming. The new policy places additional unnecessary hurdles on DOI’s permitting process.
The text of the letter follows:
The Honorable Wilma Lewis
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management
U.S. Department of Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Dear Ms. Lewis:
We are writing to express concerns with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Instruction Memorandum No. 2010-043 issued on December 23, 2009 and its impact on coal leasing and production in Wyoming. This Instruction Memorandum (IM) directed BLM State, District, and Field Offices to submit for approval all non-exempt Federal Register (FR) notices to the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., prior to publication. This policy adds unnecessary, bureaucratic hurdles to an already thorough and time-consuming review process, jeopardizing job creation and development of Wyoming’s energy resources.
While the IM impacts all land management decisions, we are concerned about its impact on coal production in particular. Coal production plays a critical role in Wyoming’s economy. It supports roughly 20,000 jobs and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues annually for State, local and federal governments. Nationally, Wyoming accounts for 40% of the nation’s coal production and coal provides 50% of the nation’s electricity. It is critical that this supply continue to provide affordable, reliable power for this country.
Processing a coal lease by application (LBA) is a lengthy process requiring as many as six Federal Register notices to be published. Managing all the LBAs pending in Wyoming requires careful planning and sticking to timelines. Given the high-stakes for jobs in Wyoming, reducing the excessively bureaucratic review process for FR notices could help ensure these LBAs stay on track.
As an example, one coal lease applicant in Wyoming had their Federal Register notice submitted to the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. on August 22, 2009. It was not published in the Federal Register until March 12, 2010. This 6 ½ month time period is over twice the time estimated in the overall leasing process and represents the time taken for only one of the six notices. The delay will impact the processing timelines for other LBAs in the queue. Compounding delays could result in a curtailment of coal production at some mining operations with negative impacts to electric power production in the United States.
The IM creates a labyrinth of reviews within the Washington offices of the Department of Interior. The new process requires 14 separate stops within the Department every time that a FR notice is needed. Until the end of the Clinton Administration, this process was facilitated at the state BLM level. By centralizing the decision in the Washington office, the Department is adopting an excessively bureaucratic review structure that lacks commonsense.
Our constituents and state economy depend on the efficient and effective operation of the Department for jobs, revenues, and recreation. Delays in land management decisions create uncertainty for local businesses and communities, jeopardizing job growth. We encourage you to modify the guidance to allow state and local BLM officials to submit FR notifications directly.