Despite problems with past energy lease sales in Utah, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Canyon Country District plans to conduct additional planning and analysis for new natural gas, oil and potash (mined salt) leasing on about 783,000 acres of public lands within the Moab and Monticello planning areas in the eastern part of the state. Specifically, the Interior Department’s BLM intends to prepare a master leasing plan (MLP), amendments to the Moab and Monticello Resource Management Plans (RMP) and a single environmental impact statement (EIS).

The 783,000 acres in the planning area are in east-central Utah; the western boundary is along the Green River and the northeastern edge of Canyonlands National Park. To the south of Moab, the boundary includes the area between Canyonlands National Parks and U.S. Highway 191.

Interest in oil, gas and potash exploration and development is high in the areas, with BLM citing expressions of interest in more than 120,000 acres within the planning area, and the recent submission of more than 170 potash prospecting permit applications to develop more than 350,000 acres. More information about the MLP process is available on the BLM website. The agency said it plans to hold scoping meetings to address public concerns in Monticello, UT, on March 27; Moab, UT, on March 28; and Salt Lake City on April 3.

The BLM lease sales on public lands in Utah have been beset with problems in recent years. In March 2009, only about half of the parcels offered at a BLM Utah office quarterly lease sale were sold, and the average bid was down sharply (see NGI, March 30, 2009). In contrast, BLM had sold 116 of 131 parcels it offered for sale in December 2008. The average bid per parcel was $11,820, down 79% from $55,225 in the December auction. The average bid per acre was $8.52.

The December lease sale drew fire from the National Park Service (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. The two Interior agencies eventually smoothed over their differences, with BLM Utah State Director Selma Sierra agreeing to defer from the sale all parcels that continued to be a concern to NPS.

Given that the Forest Service regulates oil and gas operations on National Forest System lands, while BLM leases the federal oil and gas resources underlying the national forests, the two agencies have continually butted heads over jurisdiction.

In February 2009 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar overturned the results of the December Utah lease sale, directing BLM not to accept bids on 77 parcels near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon (see NGI, Feb. 9, 2009). Producers bid about $6 million on the 77 parcels that were auctioned off during the BLM sale on Dec. 19.

Three independent producers — Denver-based Impact Energy Resources LLC, Peak Royalty Holdings Inc. of Utah and Denver-based Questar Exploration and Production Co. — challenged Salazar’s action in a Utah district court, but a judge said their lawsuits were filed too late.

A federal judge in Washington, DC, subsequently granted a temporary restraining order to seven environmental groups. He ruled that Interior had not completed a sufficient environmental analysis, particularly on how air quality around Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument might become degraded because of drilling (see NGI, Jan. 26, 2009).

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