Rising U.S. energy consumption & concerns about dependency on foreign energy sources have prompted the admin. to aggressively pursue domestic oil & gas (O&G) prod., incl. prod. on public lands, which in turn has generated concern that the impacts of this activity may compromise the use of public land for other purposes. This report determined: (1) the extent to which the level of O&G develop. on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Mgmt. (BLM) has changed in recent years, & how the change has affected BLM's ability to mitigate impacts; (2) what policy changes related to O&G develop. BLM recently made & how these policies affected BLM's environ. mitigation activ.; & (3) what challenges BLM faces in managing its O&G program. Ill.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. The development of oil and natural gas resources on federal lands contributes to domestic energy production but also results in concerns over potential impacts on those lands. Numerous public protests about oil and gas lease sales have been filed with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the Department of the Interior, which manages these federal resources. This report examined: (1) the extent to which BLM maintains and makes publicly available information related to protests; (2) the extent to which parcels were protested and the nature of protests; and (3) the effects of protests on BLM's lease sale decisions and on oil and gas development activities. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.

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