see the reference to EPA cost-effective technologies to reduce methane waste. cheers, paul

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bruce Hamilton Bruce.Hamilton@sierraclub.org Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 12:53 PM Subject: Oil leasing suspended to address climate change! To: CONS-AWL-RESILIENT-HABITATS@lists.sierraclub.org

*WELC Victory! BLM Agrees to Suspend Drilling Leases to Address Climate Change** *

Oil well on the Montana plains near Glacier National Park. [image: Oil Pump in Rocky Mountains, Montana]

In a groundbreaking federal court settlement agreement reached today, the Bureau of Land Management is required to evaluate climate change concerns on oil and natural gas leases covering over 30,000 acres in Montana. Sixty-one oil and natural gas leases will be suspended pending the completion of that review process.

"With Congress failing to exercise meaningful leadership on climate policy, it falls to citizens to step into the breach," said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, WELC attorney on this case. "That's why we brought this lawsuit, and that's why we're very pleased that BLM came to the negotiating table and agreed to suspend these leases to take a hard look at our concerns."

Western Environmental Law Center filed this pioneering climate and energy * lawsuit*http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103208437050&s=1467&e=001S-wTvLtU0Lkd6Lzbg-1FPxQAWjiHdvJALHbnW5wOUha0ROqEA3meOTdDMQmoRygdIdFAtZhP_FuomZnD0vAGmfj02AIUO5eei3CHOENtTyYRlVzIa7AHCyyl0N29GnhuV0TOP-wjELdaOB3MtyB9TA9N1is0D3KKIXYymbVSP0trf2aAqBPv6NBqNyEucj41in December 2008 working with Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project, and WildEarth Guardians. The timing of this lawsuit was on the heels of the Bush Administration's final set of oil and natural gas lease sales for Montana.

In May 2009, the lawsuit overcame a key hurdle when the district court ruled that an order by the Secretary of the Interior requiring Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to consider climate change could be enforced against BLM. We proceeded to move to the merits of the case, emphasizing concerns with methane, a greenhouse gas 72 times as potent as carbon dioxide over a 20-year time period, which sparked the discussions that led to the * settlement*http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103208437050&s=1467&e=001S-wTvLtU0LkeEF_yi4MyEVcKPqjVqUOvQzZTQQuX5ZmpnaiNfe-jWwETqPS2p5z9NC10HYtyaQlObAnLs6Rdbz_vp29XAPVIUZ55aJNoOvsm0Y5S6_074UKuh-SoU3Ji5vTQjp_16_N6k0b4GMco8dlgx3ZOw7ojZ__ekqWQ7GTgYR_gcTadnQ==agreement.

EPA has already identified over 120 proven, cost-effective technologies and practices to reduce methane waste and make operations more efficient. Despite these economic and environmental gains, BLM has not considered these proven technologies and practices in its planning documents and does not yet require them as a condition of owning a federal oil and natural gas lease.

We hope that the agreement reached today is the first step of many for BLM to ensure responsible oil and gas development in the face of climate change and tap into our country's most important resource: American ingenuity and can-do know how.

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