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Focused Research
in Federal Lands Access and Produced Water management in Oil and Gas Exploration
and Production Title: Area of Interest
1: Access to Oil and Gas Resources on Federal Lands |
| PROJECT
DESCRIPTION Title: Improving Access to Onshore Oil & Gas resources on Federal Lands Applicant: The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) is the principal investigator and they will be partnering with ALL Consulting, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Problem: To date the majority of proposed oil and gas development documents i.e., (EISs, EAs, Project Plans), can be characterized by their lack of oil and gas references, conflicting model parameter assumptions and inconsistent analyses. This many times leads to applications being delayed at federal and state agencies while data gathering efforts are completed and complimentary studies conducted. Additionally, the basic information necessary for federal, state and other stakeholders to review and make decisions has not been compiled in an easily accessible manner or location. This results in the tendency for federal and state agency land managers to be overly conservative in their environmental assessments, which further limits the accessibility of federal lands. Objective: We intend to develop faster and more comprehensive access to existing oil and gas data to effectively enable land management agencies and operators to make better and faster decisions that supports a legitimate balance between environmental protection and appropriate levels of development. Scope and Methodology: This project will develop data management tools that provide faster and more comprehensive access to existing data. To accomplish this we will conduct research focused toward improving consistency for decision-makers, defining technically sound analytical methods, detailing real case scenario energy industry parameters, and compile and present nationally assessed data relative to on-shore oil and gas leasing and development, in a manner that is requisite for an efficient NEPA review process. Data and information from the results of the research will be assembled into a manual with nationwide applicability. The manual will leverage existing studies, reports and other oil and gas related information to generate a reference list of data sources that will be evaluated and compared to calibrate environmental impact and resource development assessment predictions. An integral part of this research will be conducting a case study on a targeted coal bed natural gas (CBNG) development area in Alaska to validate the manual. Development of a comprehensive resource manual for source and analysis guidance will allow operators, NEPA specialists, and other federal and state land management agencies to more efficiently develop accurate resource projections, more reliable environmental impact analyses, and provide a common set of sound quantification methods and simple explanations for where, why, and how to use them under widely variable political, geographical and environmental settings. We will take an aggressive approach to technology transfer by developing a companion e-manual version of the documents. The e-manual will consist of an interactive web-based data source housing an internet resource site; web-based analysis tools along with automated algorithms for scenario analysis; and a series of Site Management and Research Tool (SMART) systems for analyzing actual development scenarios in GIS format. This manual will have national applicability by standardizing oil and gas impact and resource analyses and by providing an established level of consistency for reviewing oil and gas development projects. Benefits: By providing easily obtainable factual and verifiable data, and proven analysis methods a consistent review process can be derived between all stakeholders resulting in increased domestic on-shore oil and gas production and the same or increased levels of environmental protection. This will greatly facilitate and improve access to federal lands which will ultimately lead to additional development on, and increased domestic production from, federal lands. |
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Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy National Petroleum Technology Office | |
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