How Big is the Gas Drilling Regulatory Staff in Your State?
ProPublica collected and analyzed records from 2003 to present from all 32 oil and gas producing states, focusing on the 22 states that supplied the most complete data. In some states, where much of the drilling is done on federal or Native American land, ProPublica also collected data from the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees drilling and enforces regulations on federal land.
We’ll update each chart as state and federal agencies continue to supply us with data. Please e-mail reporters Abrahm Lustgarten or Sabrina Shankman with any questions or concerns.
Read the Related Story: State Oil and Gas Regulators Are Spread Too Thin to Do Their Jobs
National Data
Below are the total number of new wells drilled per year and the enforcement staff numbers from 2004 to 2008 for each of the 22 states we included in our investigation. Since 2003, the number of new wells drilled in these states increased 42%, while enforcement staff grew only 9%.
Wells Drilled: Change Since 2004
Wells Drilled
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37,239 | 41,265 | 47,984 | 49,220 | 52,616 |
Enforcement Staff: Change Since 2004
Enforcement Staff
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 894 | 882 | 917 | 928 | 978 |
How to read these graphs:
The graphs on the left show the rate of growth compared to the earliest year for which we have data -- in most cases 2003. The gray lines represent a theoretical constant annual rate of change.
The bar charts on the right show the actual values for each year we have data.
Limitations
Each state tracks oil and gas enforcement differently. In some cases, enforcement staff will represent only staff whose jobs revolve directly around enforcement, including field inspectors, supervisors and attorneys who might handle the cases for the department. In others, like Utah, the enforcement staff numbers show all staff in the Oil and Gas Division, because officials there were unable to narrow down who specifically works in enforcement. In others still, like New Mexico, enforcement is not tracked consistently, so officials would not release data. Each state page lists any particulars relating to how a given state reports its data.
Developed by Jeff Larson.