"Energy Companies Stockpiling Drilling Permits Across West"

"Scott Kidwell, a top executive for Concho Resources Inc., came to Capitol Hill in July to urge senators to pass a bipartisan bill to expedite drilling permits on public lands.

The Bureau of Land Management, he said, is taking 133 days to approve permits in southeast New Mexico's Permian Basin, where the Midland, Texas-based company operates, up from just 80 days in 2011. ...

But BLM data show that Concho already owns -- but has yet to use -- more than 150 drilling permits it received as far back as 2010 in southeast New Mexico's Eddy and Lea counties.

Concho is among hundreds of oil and gas companies that own, but haven't used, at least 5,810 drilling permits, most of which are located in New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, according to a Greenwire review."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire October 23, 2014.