The Issue
Oil & Gas Drilling
EWG’s investigations highlight the inherent risks of the current boom in drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations and empower citizens and lawmakers to work for better regulation.
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The Latest on Oil & Gas Drilling
For decades, the oil and gas and mining industries have complained that they are locked out of access to public lands that could free the U.S. from dependence on foreign energy sources. Now the first-ever investigation of 1,855 taxpayer-owned natural treasures in the West reveals the truth: Drilling and mining interests already control land in or near more than two-thirds of national parks, forests and wilderness areas.
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In a landmark decision, citizens of Crested Butte, Colo., were told they have no right to challenge the Interior Department’s giveaway of public land in their backyards.
Read MoreThe oil and gas industry and federal officials repeatedly claim that environmental protections have blocked their access to Western lands and hurt efforts to reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy. However, a year-long review of Department of Interior records by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows the oil and gas industry has enjoyed decades of access to an enormous amount of Western lands. Yet during this period, U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources has continually increased.
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The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) will permit EWG access to detailed, well-by-well, lease-by-lease information regarding oil and gas wells on Federal lands in western states. In a remarkable letter to EWG dated July 27, 2004, the Department reversed its previous denial of EWG's request for the information, which EWG will use to inform taxpayers what they get in return for DOI oil and gas lease programs.
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