Earth Equity News

Oil and Gas Leases Spark Fight in Utah Between BLM and Park Service. By Patty Hennetz, SaltLakeTrib, November 9, 2008. "A high-level fight has erupted within the Interior Department between the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service over plans to sell leases for oil and gas drilling near Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument. The Park Service wants to delay the Dec. 19 lease sales. The BLM has refused to do so... Snyder said the Park Service needs more time and more information from the BLM about the sale, which involves nearly 360,000 acres of federal land in Utah, to fulfill its responsibility as protector of the parks. Park officials worry that drilling could harm the air, water, wildlife and serenity in the parks. But when Snyder called Utah's BLM director, Selma Sierra, about an hour before the Election Day lease-sale announcement to request that the parcels near the parks be withdrawn, she refused, he said... The Park Service said getting details about the sales has proved difficult. The agency found out about them only through a tip from a conservation group."