Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday canceled 103,000 acres of Bush administration oil and gas leases near national parks in Utah.
The controversial leases were one of “about a dozen” last-minute Bush actions that Salazar said he is reviewing, including commercial oil-shale rules for Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. But Wednesday’s action was the first effort by Salazar to overturn rules issued by his predecessor.
“We are hoping we can get a similar result on oil shale and the Roan Plateau,” said Robin Cooley, an attorney with the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice.
The commercial oil-shale development rules and the sale of leases on Colorado’s iconic Roan Plateau were opposed by state officials, including Salazar when he was a U.S. senator.
Salazar directed the Bureau of Land Management to return about $6 million to companies that had successfully bid on parcels near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon.
“In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our nation’s most treasured landscapes,” Salazar said at a news conference.
Salazar said he was concerned that the review process had been rushed, that the National Park Service had not been adequately consulted and that air-quality impacts on national parks were not covered.
He also said he wanted to review the science behind the management plans on which the lease sale was based.
The BLM has been blocked from completing the sale by a Jan. 17 federal district court temporary restraining order obtained by Earthjustice.
But while environmental groups applauded, Salazar’s decision was immediately criticized by oil and gas producers as well as some in Utah’s congressional delegation.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said that Salazar’s decision “robbed taxpayers of millions of dollars of royalties and tax payments.”
The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States issued a statement saying the cancellations would hurt energy production and the Utah economy.
There was nothing “last minute” or “rushed” about the lease sale in question, said Kathleen Sgamma, the association’s director of government affairs.
The lease sale followed a seven- year development of a management plan that included widespread federal agency and public comment, Sgamma said.
That plan was adopted Oct. 3. The sale of 360,000 acres was announced Nov. 4.
On Nov. 24, the sale was amended after the National Park Service objected to sales near the park. In December, it was amended again as the BLM said not all environmental assessments had been completed.
Ultimately, the Dec. 19 sale offered 130 parcels encompassing 149,000 acres. Sales on 77 of those parcels, which cover 103,000 acres, were canceled by Salazar’s action Wednesday.
After review, some of those parcels may be reoffered for oil and gas development, Salazar said.
“We are looking for balance,” he said. “We want to responsibly develop oil and gas supplies.”
While declining to give a timetable for his review of Bush administration actions on issues such as the Endangered Species Act and offshore oil drilling, Salazar said: “We will have additional announcements.”
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
