Energy and Public Lands The United States boasts substantial
energy resources. Federal lands provide a good deal of U.S.
energy production; the U.S. Department of the Interior manages
federal energy leasing, both on land and on the offshore Outer
Continental Shelf. Production from these sources amounts to
nearly 30 percent of total annual U.S. energy production.
|Public lands not only provide energy resources but also play a
vital role in getting those resources to consumers. Pipelines
and transmission lines, such as these in Utah, stretch across
many kilometers of BLM lands. In 2000 alone, BLM issued more
than 3,000 rights of way for commercial use of public lands.| In
2000, 32 percent of U.S. oil, 35 percent of natural gas, and 37
percent of coal were produced from federal lands, representing
20,000 producing oil and gas leases and 135 producing coal
leases. Federal lands are also estimated to contain
approximately 68 percent of all undiscovered U.S. oil reserves
and 74 percent of undiscovered natural gas.