An analysis conducted by the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS) disputes the findings of an Interior Department report that concluded that the majority of the Utah leases yanked by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in February should not be reissued (see Daily GPI, Feb. 6).

In October the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) report concluded that only 22% of the 77 disputed oil and natural gas parcels in northeastern Utah should be reissued, 52 parcels should be deferred and eight parcels should be completely withdrawn from future leasing (see Daily GPI, Oct.12).

A team of Agriculture Department Forest Service officials led by Forest Supervisor Mark Stiles recommended that 60 of the disputed parcels should either be deferred or removed. The report demonstrated that there was a “headlong rush” in the final days of the Bush administration to lease public land in Utah, Salazar said. He noted that there were areas in Utah that shouldn’t have been leased during the sale due to their proximity to national parks, monuments and other treasured land.

“IPAMS believes the 60 leases were legitimately sold at the December 2008 sale, and should be reinstated to the winning bidders. All leases but one are several miles from national parks. All are near existing wells or federal and/or state leases, and it does not make sense for the deferrals to disrupt the orderly development of surrounding leases,” said IPAMS, which represents independent producers in the InterMountain West.

The organization said its analysis found no evidence to support Interior’s decision on the Utah leases. Interior ignored sound justifications for leasing, including aggressive environmental protections include in the resource management plans (RMP) that were designed with input from Utah stakeholders, the group said.

“IPAMS believes the Stiles report and [Interior’s] subsequent decision to support its recommendations demonstrate an unfortunate lack of regard for the seven-year public planning process that produced the RMPs,” said Kathleen Sgamma, IPAMS director of government affairs.

“It’s a sad day when politics trumps the expertise of professional land managers and the hard work of citizens to develop economic and resource development plans that the community has embraced,” she said. “If you’re not listening to your land managers and the public, who are you listening to?”

©Copyright 2009Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.