Bureau of Land Management

www.blm.gov

The BLM is responsible for managing 245 million surface acres of federal land, nearly one-eighth of the entire U.S. land mass. Nearly all of the BLM holdings are in the West, making them a prominent agency in the rapidly growing region. The agency coordinates oil and gas mining, timber harvesting, cattle grazing and conservation. It also administers 700 million acres of subsurface mineral rights -- essentially the right to extract the resources under the federal land. Management of and archaeological, paleontological, and historical sites also falls under BLM jurisdiction.

The bureau’s annual budget dropped from about $1.1 billion to $960,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. the BLM has about 10,000 employees. The BLM is a significant revenue producer. In 2009, it generated about $6 billion in revenues.

Video Introduction

Location

The Issues

Renewable Energy

To reduce American dependence on foreign oil and oil in general, the BLM is working with the Secretary of the Interior to develop renewable energy sources on the National System of Public Lands. The new Renewable Energy Coordination will expedite the permitting of wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands, along with the electrical transmission facilities needed to deliver the energy to cities. Salazar said the clean green energy potential of these areas offer an opportunity to realize President Obama’s energy and climate change strategy to make fuller use of our domestic energy resources and create “green jobs” for local communities. For more information about the BLM and renewable energy check out this fact sheet from the BLM website http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/land_records.html

Other contacts

Energy Development: Nada Culver, Senior Counsel, The Wilderness Society: 303-650-5818 x 117

Oil Shale: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Contact through David Hawkins: 202-289-6868

Horses: Heather Sullivan, Humane Society: hsullivan@hsus.org, 301-548-7778

Sage Grouse: Brent Fenty, Executive Director, Oregon Natural Desert Association: 541-330-2638 bfenty@onda.org

Does this agency's information need updating? programs@nationalpress.org