Interior Halts Some Utah Leases, OKs Others, Defers Most

By David Frey, 10-08-09

Following a review of 77 controversial Utah gas leases, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has put a halt on eight of them, deferred 52 of them and is allowing 17 of them to go forward.

The decision follows the recommendations outlined in an interagency report on the leases, which Salazar found had been rushed through by the Bush administration without adequate review.

“I think the report demonstrates that there was a headlong rush to leasing in the prior administration and it ended up taking the kind of shortcuts that we have discovered here,” Salazar told reporters on Thursday. “There were areas that should not have been leased because of the ecological values.”

Industry representatives blasted the report and said all 77 of the leases should be reinstated.

“We wonder why the administration continues to undertake actions that limit economic development in the West, decrease energy security and make addressing climate change even more difficult,” said Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.

Environmentalists had battled the leases, some of which were close to Arches and Canyonlands national parks in the heart of southeast Utah’s red rock country. (See the map here.)

Calling the report a “crucible” to understanding BLM gas leasing decisions, Salazar said it could impact how decisions are made elsewhere.

“We need to do it right,” Salazar said. “In my view, it has not been done right in the past.”

The report said Utah BLM staffers felt political pressure to issue gas leases. It found some staffers “believed they were required by law to give greater deference to mineral leasing proposals” than to other land uses.

Salazar rejected the 77 bids for 130,000 acres close to Arches, Canyonlands, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon in February, after a federal court issued a restraining order in January. They were among 116 parcels offered for bid in the region in a December lease sale, and fetched $6 million that had to be returned to the bidders.

The leases were among the so-called midnight maneuvers enacted in the last days of the Bush administration, many of which were criticized by environmentalists for weakening environmental protections.

An interagency team, including BLM, National Park Service and Forest Service staffers, reviewed the 77 leases.

The group found that while 17 leases are ready to move forward and may be put up for lease again, eight of them should not be leased to protect views, wildlife and other resources. Another 52 require further work, in some cases minimal work, in others detailed air quality studies.

“We had time for an on-the-ground review, something the field staff didn’t have time to do,” said team leader Mark Stiles, forest supervisor on Colorado’s San Juan National Forest.

Many of the local BLM staffers had to make their decision from their desks, he said. The review team set out to visit each parcel on the ground.