Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) Oil and Gas Inventory

Mike Marquis
Advanced Resources International, Inc, Arlington, VA

The EPCA inventory represents a first-time compilation of dissimilar datasets to assess the issue of access to petroleum resources on Federal lands. Comprehensive datasets for the inventory comprise land and mineral ownership, leasing stipulation, and oil and gas resource data. These disparate datasets were analyzed in a GIS-driven model.

The GIS analysis acts to constrain the debate regarding access to Federal lands, allowing Federal agencies to focus their management efforts in resource-rich areas. The analysis lends good data and sound science to these efforts as the need to generate the nation's natural gas supply competes with multiple uses of Federal land.