About ten years ago, I was invited to be a guest lecturer for an MBA class at the University of Oklahoma. The course was “Oil and Gas Accounting and Regulation.” Most of the course syllabus focused on accounting, but I was brought in to teach the lone, three-hour session on “regulation.”

I kicked off my presentation with a slide deck full of the acronyms that those of us in the federal energy space use every day—NEPA, APD, ESA, and so on. Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly a showstopper. 

So I pivoted.

I unrolled a massive, paper flowchart I’d brought along—three feet high and at least fifteen feet long, printed in 10-point font and crisscrossed with lines connecting dozens of boxes like a spiderweb.  “This,” I said, “represents the full regulatory lifecycle of an oil and gas well on federal land.”

That got their attention.

As future executives, MBA students were focused primarily on two things: budget and schedule. So why were they asked to listen to me drone on about regulations? And how did that complex web of permitting and compliance illustrated in the “MegaChart” impact a proposed project’s budget and schedule?

Unless you’re in it, it’s difficult to see. That crazy flow chart illustrated the multi-layered complexities of the federal regulatory scheme, and it showed how missteps can impact a project. Time is money, and delays, missing permits, and other hiccups directly affect budgets, timelines, and even the viability of projects. Regulatory problems drive up costs and extend timelines, both of which directly impact budget and schedule. 

Which brings us to ENERGY 101. My goal with this series is to explain — at a high level – how developing projects on federal land differs from private land and how regulatory law and policy factor into those plans.  We’ll decipher acronyms, highlight key areas, and hopefully answer a few questions along the way.  

In this post, I’ll start with the federal agencies that are tasked with managing public lands.  A 2020 Congressional Research Service report offers this helpful summary:

The federal government owns and manages about 640 million acres of land in the United States. These lands are primarily administered by four agencies: the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Forest Service (FS). The agencies manage lands for a variety of uses, including recreation, grazing, timber harvesting, energy development, and conservation, and they collect revenues such as fees, royalties, and rents.

— Congressional Research Service, Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data, R42346, February 2020

Let’s take a quick look at each agency and its respective responsibilities. 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Although BLM was formally established in 1946, its roots within the Department of Interior have a long history dating back to the years when the country was acquiring lands and promoting westward expansion. Today, BLM employs approximately 10,000 people and holds primary responsibility for managing the vast majority of federal surface and mineral lands. 

Source: Bureau of Land Management

BLM manages more than 245 million surface acres, which is roughly 10 percent of all American land and is nearly the size of France, Germany, and England combined.  BLM also manages 700 million mineral acres, most of which are located in the western United States.  The agency is tasked with a “multiple use mandate,” which means it must manage its public lands for a variety of uses such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting while ensuring natural, cultural, and historic resources are maintained for present and future use. Generally, BLM’s duties can be categorized into the following areas: 

• Leasing and Auctions
  • Conducting competitive lease sales for oil, gas, and renewable energy development, such as wind and solar.
  • Issuing leases for oil, gas, coal, geothermal, and renewable energy projects on public lands.
    

•  Permitting and Project Review
  • Processing Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) for oil and gas wells.
  • Issuing rights-of-way (ROWs) for transmission lines, pipelines, and renewable energy facilities.
  • Conducting environmental reviews under NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act (see note below)).
  • Consulting with other agencies under environmental and preservation statutes. 

• Land Use Planning and Resource Management
  • Developing and updating Resource Management Plans (RMPs) that govern energy development and other land uses.
  • Designating appropriate lands for different types of energy projects, such as wind energy zones, solar energy zones, and oil and gas fields.

• Inspection and Enforcement
  
  • Ensuring compliance with lease terms, environmental stipulations, and safety regulations.
  • Enforcing reclamation requirements once projects are complete or abandoned.
    

•  Revenue Collection
  • Collecting bonus bids, rents, and royalties from leases and rights-of-way.
  • Coordinating with the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) for royalty payments and audits.

• Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement
  • Coordinating with tribal, state, and local governments, as well as with other federal agencies.
  • Engaging the public through notice-and-comment periods and public hearings.

Numerous offices across multiple states are charged with executing these responsibilities. We’ll spend time drilling a little deeper with the BLM in future posts, but for now, let’s move on to the other agencies.

U.S. Forest Service (USFS)

Located within the Department of Agriculture, USFS manages 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands.  USFS  balances timber harvesting, recreation, watershed protection, and energy development.  As noted previously, BLM  has principal authority to manage leasable minerals, so when those occur under NFS lands, the Forest Service and the BLM cooperate based on applicable law. 

The Forest Service's authority includes: 

• Approving surface use for energy projects within national forests and grasslands.
• Reviewing and authorizing access to subsurface mineral leases issued by BLM.
• Conducting environmental reviews under NEPA.
• Issuing special-use permits for infrastructure like pipelines, power lines, and renewable energy facilities.
• Ensuring compliance with environmental laws and land restoration throughout the project lifecycle.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Another Interior Department agency, FWS, manages 95 million acres of land, primarily through the National Wildlife Refuge System.  This includes refuges, wetlands, and conservation areas dedicated to protecting wildlife and their habitats.  While energy development is generally restricted, the FWS may regulate access to pre-existing, non-federal mineral rights and ensure that any such activity is compatible with conservation goals. FWS may issue rights-of-way for energy projects so long as those projects and use are compatible with wildlife refuge purposes.  Additionally, the agency plays a key role in the environmental review process for off-refuge energy projects by conducting Endangered Species Act consultations and participating in NEPA reviews.

National Park Service (NPS) 

NPS is the oldest of the federal land management agencies and is responsible for 433 national parks, monuments, and historic sites covering more than 85 million acres. Although NPS and BLM are both housed in the Department of the Interior, their mandates are quite different.  BLM is charged with a multiple-use mandate, but the NPS must "leave [parks] unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations," prohibiting energy development within park boundaries. The NPS does oversee and regulate certain existing oil, gas, and mining rights within the parks, and these activities are tightly managed.  As a cooperating agency, NPS reviews and provides input for some energy and transmission projects outside park borders by working with other federal and state agencies to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts on park air, water, wildlife, scenic views, soundscapes, cultural sites, and night skies. 

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Other federal agencies, like the Department of Defense, have responsibilities for lands under their authority, but BLM, USFS, FWS, and NPS serve as stewards of federal lands and play a central role in determining if, when, and how energy projects are allowed to proceed. Understanding the specific mandates, coordination requirements, and regulatory responsibilities of each agency helps explain why energy development on federal lands is complex. Overlapping roles, jurisdictional boundaries, and procedural requirements all contribute to the need for thoughtful navigation and a comprehensive regulatory plan.

Here's an easy-to-reference recap of ENERGY 101: Federal Lands Overview:

Energy Development Snapshot

 1. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their actions—such as permits, projects, or land use decisions—before issuing final decisions. NEPA will be covered extensively throughout these pages and will be discussed more thoroughly in the future installments of ENERGY 101.