The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has dropped more than half of the original acres that were to be offered Friday for oil and natural gas development in Utah, due mostly to the land’s proximity to national parks and monuments.

The Interior Department agency initially proposed 241 parcels totaling 359,450 acres for the onshore lease sale, which is expected to be the last by the Bush administration. However, the oil and gas lease sale has been whittled down to 131 parcels of land totaling 163,714 acres, or 195,736 fewer acres than was originally proposed. The parcels are located in seven Utah counties — Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, San Juan and Uintah.

“It does not appear that way” that more acreage will be dropped from the sale before Friday, said BLM-Utah spokeswoman Megan Crandall. “The deferral of these parcels is proof that the process works,” with BLM taking into consideration all protests and concerns. She noted that the BLM does not issue a lease until all protests are resolved.

The agency has chosen to defer leasing in the Nine Mile Canyon in eastern Utah area below the canyon rim and the Desolation Canyon area to further review stipulations and mitigation measures for this year. In addition, parcels over coalfields are being deferred to avoid potential conflicts with underground mining (see Daily GPI, Dec. 9).

Currently no drilling occurs on BLM-administered lands in the Nine Mile Canyon area, which are considered to have a high probability of natural gas, Crandall said. The West Tavaputs plateau, through which the canyon runs, is the site of some gas development, notably by Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp.

The BLM said it also deferred all or part of 23 parcels totaling approximately 38,000 acres at the request of the National Park Service (NPS). In addition, it has deferred a split estate parcel in Spanish Valley and, at the request of Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. and the governor’s task force on outdoor recreation, has deferred from the lease sale a parcel near the Arches National Monument and parcels south of Arches.

A final deferral came Friday. The BLM deferred 80,015 acres in Fillmore in West-Central Utah until the agency completes the Filmore Field Office oil and gas leasing environmental assessment.

The announcement of the Utah lease sale last month drew fire from the NPS in Denver for BLM’s apparent failure to give NPS adequate advance notice to evaluate the potential environmental impact of a proposed lease sale (see Daily GPI, Nov. 11). The two Interior agencies have since smoothed over their differences, with the BLM Utah State Director Selma Sierra agreeing to defer from the sale all parcels that continued to be a concern to NPS.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that President-elect Obama is expected to to use his executive authority to block these new oil and natural gas leases on environmentally sensitive lands in Utah when he takes office in January.

A coalition of six conservation groups has filed a formal administrative protest with the BLM, calling its planned Dec. 19 lease sale in Utah a “midnight fire sale.”

The protest challenged BLM’s decision to auction off parcels of land in Utah for oil and natural gas leasing and development, including such areas as the White River, Labyrinth Canyon and the benches east of Canyonlands Nation Park, according to the six groups.

Bringing the challenge were the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Grand Canyon Trust and Sierra Club.

The BLM in Utah disputed claims that the Dec. 19 onshore lease sale is an “unnecessary fire sale” of public lands to energy developers. “The upcoming sale is not a last minute effort to allow for oil and gas development on public lands prior to an administration change. Quarterly oil and gas lease sales are never thrown together,” the agency said.

Nor does the BLM “arbitrarily and capriciously” choose lands for oil and gas leasing without any regard to significant resources that may be located on those lands or affected by energy development, it said.

The BLM sale also will offer 142,333 acres on 44 parcels for geothermal development. “We’re working hard to expand our renewable resources, but it’s gotten kind of shoved under the carpet, which I think is unfortunate,” Crandall said.

The sale will take place at the BLM Utah State Office in Salt Lake City on Friday.

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