Uintah County commissioners announced that they are concerned about why so few drilling permits are being permitted by the BLM in recent months. This problem manifested itself after discussions were held with oil and gas representatives addressing their complaints that the Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) from the BLM have been reduced drastically in recent months.

According to commissioner Mike McKee, the permitting problems started about a year ago after BLM officials, in a controversial move, canceled 77 leases in Utah.

“The slow down has progressed to the point that very few APDs are being processed today,” said McKee. As an example, McKee reported that Anadarko officials stated that a year ago they were receiving about 25 permits a month and now they are down to around three.

“And we met with officials from Newfield and Questar and they are concurring with the slowdown in permit processing,” said McKee.

County officials have checked with the local BLM office and found that the applications are being processed and moved further up the line. In tracking the permits, county officials are not sure where the holdup is and therefore met with Governor Herbert last week and are organizing meetings in Washington D.C. to find out what is happening to the permitting process and why.

McKee stated that their meeting with the Governor was an excellent opportunity to inform him of these issues and they encouraged him to be direct as he meets in Washington this week with Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.

Uintah County’s lobbyist, Allen Freemeyer, will also be working on setting up meetings in the near future with Utah’s congressional leaders and Bob Abbey, director of the national BLM office on this and other state business.

“We have to be concerned when we have companies in the Basin saying that because the permitting process is almost non-existent they are going to be moving their drilling budgets to other states,” said McKee. “We have found out in the past that when they start moving budgets things happen quickly and once their focus is moved out of the area it is very difficult to get it back.”

McKee is also concerned about reports that Utah drilling permits are being handled differently than those in other states. This issue will also be addressed during the Washington meetings.

McKee referred to a University of Utah study that shows that 50 percent of jobs in the Uintah Basin are oil and gas related. The 2007 study also showed that 60 percent of the wages in the Basin were tied to the oil and gas industry.

“The point that I am making is that extractive industry is extremely important to the Uintah Basin’s economy,” said McKee. “And that these jobs are good paying jobs.”

He pointed out that a little over a year ago there were about 50 drilling rigs in the state of Utah with the majority in the Basin. There are now 13 in the state and with drilling permits being issued at a snail’s pace this number could be reduced in the future and thus his concern.

“The problem is we are not getting the drilling permit applications through the BLM offices,” said McKee. “And we are going to work all levels on this issue here locally and in Washington. We want to accomplish this by using our congressional delegation along with Mr. Abbey to get this issue resolved.”

“The citizens need to know that this is a serious issue we are facing and we are actively engaged to rectify the situation from here to the governors office to Washington DC if necessary,” said McKee. “It is a priority to us.”