American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017 - 35

However, it also observes, "The Clean
Air Act gives EPA the flexibility to allow
one additional year for sufficient information to support ozone designations.
EPA may take future action to use its
delay authority . . . to ensure that its des-

ignations are founded on sound policy
and the best available information."
Administrator Scott Pruitt comments,
"We believe in dialogue with, and being
responsive to, our state partners. Today's
action reinforces our commitment to

working with the states through the complex designation process."
Published reports mention that 15 states
along with several environmental groups
had sued EPA, contending the delay exceeded its Clean Air Act authority.
r

DOI Releases Report On Sage Grouse
WASHINGTON-Reactions have been
mixed to a Department of Interior report
on ways to improve greater sage grouse
conservation and economic development,
with some indicating DOI is veering too
far from states' own conservation plans
while others criticize the agency for not
going far enough.
DOI's Sage Grouse Review Team released its report on ways to improve the
Bureau of Land Management's 2015 sage
grouse resource management plans on
Aug. 4. A statement by DOI Secretary
Ryan Zinke notes the report is the final
product required by his Secretarial Order
3353, Greater Sage Grouse Conservation
and Cooperation with Western States, issued June 7.
The review team's report may be accessed
at https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/so3353_memo_coverletter_report_080
717.pdf.
Zinke says he has directed BLM, in
coordination with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service and the U.S. Geological Survey,
to immediately begin implementing the
report's short- and long-term recommendations.
A memo to Deputy Secretary David
Bernhardt specifies these immediate actions:
* Identify options to incorporate
updated boundaries into habitat
management areas;
* Clarify mechanisms to modify
waivers, exceptions and modifications in
priority habitat management areas;
* Modify or issue new policy on fluid
mineral leasing and development, including
the 2015 plans' prioritization policies;
* Issue or modify policy and provide
training on using assessment and
monitoring data and tools, as well as the
habitat objectives table from the 2015
sage grouse plans, and to increase
flexibility in grazing management;
* Identify options for flexibility
when applying adaptive management
decisions;
* Investigate options to streamline
use authorizations with little impact on
the 2015 plans;
* Clarify the appropriate use of compensatory mitigation and identify opportunities to increase consistency between

the federal and state plans;
* Work with states to improve
techniques and methods to allow them to
set appropriate population objectives; and
* Investigate removing or modifying
sage grouse focal areas in certain states.
"I am particularly interested in assisting
the states in setting sage grouse population
objectives to improve species management,"
Secretary Zinke says in the memorandum.
"I also believe we should examine a program to enhance scientific research."
The Independent Petroleum Association
of America remarks that BLM may implement some of the changes simply with
a memo, while others "will require a
land-use amendment that could take years
to complete."
Reactions
IPAA reports Idaho Governor C.L.
"Butch" Otter praised the DOI report as
"an appropriate step toward giving the
states more power to manage sage grouse."
However, Wyoming Governor Matt
Mead says, "The federal plans do not
fully implement the Wyoming approach,"
adding that "Wyoming's plan is solid and
should be allowed to work.
"I am concerned that the recommendations place more focus on population
targets and captive breeding," Mead adds
in his Aug. 7 statement. "Industry needs
predictability, but the report does not explain fully how population targets provide
that certainty."
However, Mead softened his criticism
somewhat in an Aug. 16 speech to the
Petroleum Association of Wyoming, when

he said, "DOI is making positive changes
to its management proposals, but-no
question-there is room for improvement"
(see story page 105).
IPAA says the Western Association of
Fish and Wildlife Agencies also questions
the shift from emphasizing habitat management and restoration to populationbased approaches, saying it "likely will
lead to an Endangered Species Act listing
for the bird and other species that depend
on sagebrush habitat."
Other published reports say Colorado
Governor John Hickenlooper also criticized
DOI's report.
Western Energy Alliance President
Kathleen Sgamma, meanwhile, says DOI's
recommendations don't go far enough.
"Until Interior bites the bullet and starts
amending these (2015 land-use plans),
it's merely postponing a real, needed correction," Sgamma says.
In July 19 letter to DOI's Sage Grouse
Review Team, the Alliance emphasizes,
"Given the expansive and unduly burdensome restrictions in these plans, it
is critical that Interior revise the landuse plans rather than simply seeking to
make limited changes. Moreover, the
states should have primary management
authority over conserving the greater
sage grouse.
"State efforts, such as in Montana,
Utah and Wyoming, provide a more sensible and adaptive approach to greater
sage grouse management while balancing
future economic growth that is entirely
lacking in the (2015) plans," the Alliance
writes.
r

MMEX Resources Plans Pecos County Refinery
FORT STOCKTON, TX.-MMEX Resources Corp. has purchased land in West
Texas for its planned oil refinery. The
company says the 150 acres in Pecos
County, Tx., will be the site of a 10,000barrel-a-day crude distillation plant, and
constitutes the first phase of its plans to
build a $440 million, 50,000 bbl/d refinery.
According to MMEX Resources, it
plans to buy 350 adjacent acres for the
larger facility. It says it intends to surround
the refinery with an additional 250 acres

of buffer property and leverage state-ofthe-art emissions technology to minimize
environmental impacts. The proposed refinery also will feature closed-in water and
air-cooling systems, which it says will require very little local water resources.
Media sources note this is the second
independent business with refinery plans.
Raven Petroleum has announced it is
moving ahead on a 55,000 bbl/d crude
oil refinery outside of Laredo, Tx., with
plans for exports to Mexican markets. r
SEPTEMBER 2017 35


https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/up https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/so3353_memo_coverletter_report_080717.pdf https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/so3353_memo_coverletter_report_080717.pdf

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017

Contents
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