Oil and gas operations waste enough taxpayer-owned natural gas annually to meet Idaho’s natural gas demand over four times. If captured, it would be worth more than $330 million, weigh 169,000 tons, and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 890,000 cars.
Instead, it’s burned, vented into the atmosphere, or lost through leaks that release toxic pollutants, increase asthma and cause other health problems.
TAKE ACTION TO STOP GAS LEAKING, FLARING & VENTING AND PROTECT PUBLIC LANDS
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released a draft proposal aimed at curbing the wasteful practices of natural gas flaring, venting, and leaking natural gas on public and tribal lands. The new guidelines will:
• Reduce drilling-related air pollution,
• Decrease the amount of natural gas that is unnecessarily wasted, and
• Increase royalty revenues for both state and tribal governments.
This is a great start, but it doesn’t go far enough. Please send a message urging the BLM to take all the necessary steps to protect our public lands, air, land and water. TAKE ACTION NOW!
Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
Follow Living With Oil and Gas on Facebook. Living with Oil and Gas is a social media project documenting stories of Westerners impacted by oil and gas in their backyards. The project is organized by our partners at the Western Organization of Resource Councils.
Read Falling Short, a report detailing gaps in state based air-quality regulations published by our friends at WORC and the Western Environmental Law Center.
Read The Flaring Boom, a WORC report examining the causes and effects of flaring, venting, and leaking of natural gas by examining efforts to curtail these wasteful practices in Alaska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.