|
A few weeks ago, an audit of Utah's oil and gas program found significant and wide-ranging problems with inspections and enforcement, with the agency not issuing a single fine for the past 24 years. As of June, there were 105 unresolved issues in the state. Now, regulators are asking for a legal change so that they can more easily issue fines for violations. They are pushing for a bill in the Utah legislature that would allow the division to issue and collect fines directly.
In Utah, the law requires the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining to get a court order before fining companies. This process differs from surrounding states, which either do not require a court order or are in the process of disposing of the requirement. However, lawmakers are maintaining that regulators already have the ability to issue fines effectively, and the problem is the culture of lax enforcement within the division. Rep. Brian King states that regulators "have a lot of tools—there are a lot of things they could be doing that they don’t do... They haven't even tried."
Wyoming coal's decline threatens state funding
In Wyoming, coal is being crowded out by cheaper energy sources such as natural gas and renewables. The state relies heavily on revenue from coal, especially for education funds. Payments to the state from coal mined on federal land have dropped from $239 million in 2013 to $0, and likely will not recover.
|
Almost three years into the Trump administration and I think there’s a strong trend of ignoring public input in land management decisions... It's a massive change. [The old charters] didn’t have any of this language about implementing Trump administration executive orders and so forth. And so now it seems like they want to turn these into a rubber stamp instead of a local advisory group.”
