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(Washington-AP) -- A review of federal records shows that nearly three-fourths of the public land leased for oil and gas development in the continental U-S isn't producing any oil or gas.
That, even as the Bush administration pushes to open more environmentally sensitive public lands for oil and gas development.
Eighty percent of federal lands leased for oil and gas production in Wyoming are producing no oil or gas. Neither are 83 percent of the leased acres in Montana or 77 percent in Utah.
The findings come from an Associated Press computer analysis of Bureau of Land Management records.
The amount of non-producing land leases is nearly 30 (m) million acres.
Bureau officials could provide no details on the number of exploratory wells drilled on those leases.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
