Abstract
The Intermountain West Oil and Gas BMP Project (BMP Project) is a collaborative effort of the Natural Resources Law Center and its partners, including the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program. The BMP Project has developed a comprehensive, free-access, searchable, web-based database of oil and gas best management practices (BMPs) for the Intermountain West (http://www.oilandgasbmps.org). The database includes over 7, 000 BMPs addressing air and water quality, soils, visual aesthetics, health and safety, wildlife, and other resources. These BMPs are currently required or recommended for responsible resource management by various levels of government, communities, conservation organizations, industry groups, or individual companies. The project website includes resource pages on development issues and controversies as well as case studies of industry efforts to minimize environmental impacts. A community page illustrates community-industry efforts to negotiate, rather than litigate the best options for rational development. The BMP database focuses on source materials regarding both conventional and unconventional development from the Intermountain West states of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The website resource pages also focus on the Intermountain West, but draw on information from unconventional gas developments beyond this region.
This paper describes the Intermountain Oil and Gas BMP project resources and addresses the role of BMPs within the range of law and policy options available for facilitating development while promoting environmental and community health and safety. The paper also summarizes what is known of the efficacy and cost effectiveness of BMPs.
Communities embrace development for the economic benefit it brings to their areas, but both communities and conservation groups vigorously work to prevent oil and gas development from recklessly disrupting their lives and destroying sensitive environments. Governments consider new means to control impacts while still promoting development. Many companies work to balance cost effective production with practices that protect the environment and the communities they impact. The Intermountain BMP project helps these stakeholders identify appropriate practices for minimizing impacts to surface resources during planning, design, construction, drilling, operations, reclamation, and monitoring. BMP Project resources can also help stakeholders learn to work together to fuel the country's energy requirements and address the economic needs of communities without sacrificing the quality of their environment.
