RHETORIC:
Kathleen Sgamma, from the Western Energy Alliance, told Utah lawmakers during an energy hearing, “We really believe that the huge increase in oil and gas production across the nation has come despite the federal government, not because of it.” AP, 10/18/2012.
REALITY:
Oil production on public lands—estimated by sales volume during a given year—has increased more than 11 percent in 8 years, to 112 million barrels in 2011 from 101 million barrels in 2003. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 3/2012.
Majority of land under oil and gas control is unused.
The federal government has leased millions of acres to oil and gas companies, but industry has chosen to produce on only a small percentage. As of April 2012, approximately 56 percent of the total onshore acres under lease on public lands in the Lower 48 lay idle, experiencing neither production nor exploration activities. Department of the Interior: May 2012.