BUSH ADMIN BUNGLED ENERGY LEASES

Few Bush-era energy leases are valid, report finds; Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says his agency will prevent further development on the problematic parcels on Utah's public land.
Nicolas Riccardi, October 9, 2009 (LA Times)

"Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said…only 17 of 77 oil and gas leases on Utah public lands that the Bush administration auctioned off in December were valid [according to Final BLM Review of 77 BLM Oil and Gas Lease Parcels…] and…[the Interior Department will] prevent development on the remaining parcels, at least in the near future.

"…[The parcels] became the subject of a fierce controversy during the waning days of George W. Bush's presidency…Environmentalists contended that the auction of drilling rights on 100,000 acres of federal land in southeastern Utah were a last-minute giveaway to the energy industry…[and] won a restraining order from a federal judge halting the sales."

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"Salazar revoked most of the leases upon entering office and said his staff would study which were appropriate…[T]he review found that few were…[E]ight of the parcels should never be leased and the remainder could be leased someday after additional review and regulations. The problematic parcels included lands within view of Arches and Canyonlands national parks. One lease was directly on the Colorado River, in a cliff face above a popular campground.

"The report, based on nine days of on-site investigation, found that people in the Bureau of Land Management's Utah office, which oversaw the sales, believed that energy concerns should override environmental or recreational ones…"

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"Energy groups said the findings continued a troubling trend -- a hesitancy in the Obama administration to foster American energy sources. Salazar has also reversed a Bush administration effort to open swathes of Western land to oil shale development…

"Environmental groups hailed the report's findings but cautioned that even if the Obama administration wanted to rebid the 17 leases it found appropriate, it would need to follow procedures laid down by the federal judge…"