Help stop Fossil Fuel Empires from cheating taxpayers

The new rules proposed by the Obama Administration would help ensure that companies pay the full amount required by law for their dirty deeds. They update oil and gas measurement guidance to reflect the best and most up-to-date technology and standards.

The Administration is accepting comments on these updated regulations until December 14th, so now is the time to make your voice heard.

Tell the Obama Administration: Make polluters pay for destroying our public lands!

Subject:*

Your Letter:*
Dear Director Kornze, I am writing to express support and provide suggestions for strengthening the proposed rules that would replace Onshore Oil and Gas Order No. 4, Measurement of Oil, and No. 5, Measurement of Gas. Current regulations are outdated and do not ensure that onshore oil and gas leases are properly and accurately measured. The proposed updated regulations will help strengthen the Bureau of Land Management’s accountability with regard to oil and gas measurement and help ensure that American taxpayers receive the full and proper royalty payment owed to them. To better ensure these rules reflect the best and most current technologies, standards, and practices, the following modifications should be made: For Onshore Order No. 4: • Eliminate any level of uncertainty that would apply to older, low-volume wells • Clarify and limit by what criteria the BLM State Director should apply before granting exceptions to the Facility Measurement Point (FMP) uncertainty levels • Prohibit manual tank gauging, as it is often inaccurate and unreliable, and poses a threat to public health and worker safety • Implement a mechanism by which the BLM can ensure compliance with the vapor tight storage tank requirement • Increase the frequency of meter-proving to ensure more accurate measurement For Onshore Order No. 5: • Eliminate the “marginal-volume” FMP category to avoid very low-volume FMPs from being exempt from certain requirements and limiting royalty revenues • Increase the uncertainty levels for flow rate to ±2 percent for very-high and high-volume FMPs and ±5 percent for low-volume FMPs • Increase the uncertainty levels for heating value to ±1 percent for very-high and high-volume FMPs and ±5 percent for low-volume FMPs • Increase the inspection, verification and sampling frequencies to once a month for very-high and high-volume FMPs and once every six months for low-volume FMPs • Prohibit the use of mechanical recorders Federal oil and gas development represents one of the federal government’s largest non-tax sources of revenue. Oil and gas companies have leases to drill on over 37 million acres of public lands, which produced approximately $48 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2013. However, the Government Accountability Office included the Bureau of Land Management on its 2015 High Risk list for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement due to how it collects its share of revenue from oil and gas produced on public lands. Instead of giving oil and gas companies leases to destroy our public lands for profit while leaving taxpayers paying the environmental and social costs, the Bureau of Land Management should hold these companies accountable for the consequences of their production of publicly-owned oil and gas. In order to address the climate crisis, our public lands are some of the best places to lock carbon in the ground. But as long as oil and gas companies continue to operate their existing leases, the federal government is responsible for making sure they accurately account and pay for what they produce. Thank you for your consideration of my comments. Sincerely,

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Original Petition by Friends of the Earth