OCR Text |
Show Oil -Gas Leasing Examined at Workshop Oil and Gas leasing in National Forests is a subject of national concern. Methods of assuring efficient leasing procedures will be examined at a two-day Forest Service workshop at the Tri-Arc Travelodge in Salt Lake City, on February 26 and 27. Participating in the workshop will be representatives of three Forest Service Regions--Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, and Northern-which Northern-which include portions of nine western states. Each of r these Regions has National Forest lands within the Overthrust Belt, a geological structural trend containing large oil reserves. reser-ves. Representatives of the oil and gas industry, environmental en-vironmental groups, and other federal agencies will also take part in the workshop. Participants will be brought up to date on current Forest Service leasign policies and the group will seek solutions to any problems that may exist. "Many National Forest areas in the Overthrust Belt were involved in the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) process that was recently completed," said Deputy Regional Forester Jeff Sirmon, Intermountain Region, who is serving as coordinator for the workshop. "The processing of lease applications is one of our highest resource management activities. All leasing application backlogs in areas allocated to the nonwilderness status by RARE II in the Intermountain In-termountain Region will be cleared up by March 31," he added. Applications in areas allocated to "further planning" will be processed by June.1, and applications in areas recommended for wilderness will be processed on a case-by-case basis thorugh the Forest Service C hief's office in Washington D.C. "The Overthrust Belt of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah remains the prime target for oil and gas exploration in the West," Sirmon said. "New discoveries and extension of known fields continue in southern portions of the belt." Several wells are presently being drilled on trie Bridger-Teton and Caribou National Forests, in Wyoming and Idaho. Eight oil and gas fields in Utah are either presently producing-or producing-or capable of producing-from producing-from National Forests lands. A recent discovery of gas in the Dixie National Forest will stimulate activity along the Thrust Belt-Hingline area which extends through central Utah. |