Baby, They're Not Drilling

hosted.ap.org — In the wake of the conservative push to open up more areas to oil drilling, there's new evidence that the lands that are already available aren't being tapped. The General Accountability Office, in a review of the 55,000 federal oil and gas leases issued to energy companies by the Interior Department from 1987 to 1996, found that the vast majority expired without being drilled, and an even smaller amount actually produced oil and natural gas. Energy companies currently hold leases but are not producing on about 68 million acres of federal land—property that has the potential to double domestic oil production. House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who sponsored "use it or lose it" legislation earlier this year, said the report validated his "long-held belief that oil and gas companies can, and should, be doing more to develop those leases."

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