2008-12-14
BLM Scales Back on Utah Drilling Leases. By Judy Fahys, SaltLakeTrib, December 13, 2008. "Federal land officials pared more parcels Friday from next week's sale of oil and gas leases in Utah, unleashing another hailstorm of criticism from conservationists and industry... Steve Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance [SUWA], said the BLM 'did the right thing' by cutting from Friday's final list more than 80,000 of acres in the Fillmore area because environmental assessments of the area still aren't complete. But he criticized the agency's backtracking as evidence of a 'rush job' and noted that sensitive parcels in eastern Utah's Desolation and Nine Mile canyons and the White River area remain at risk -- along with 70 of the 94 parcels that the National Park Service had objected to. 'This is still a fire sale for industry,' Bloch added. The proposed leases 'are ones industry has wanted for years, and the [departing] Bush administration is dead set on selling them.' Industry wasn't happy with the final results either. Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, said... 'The BLM has buckled under pressure from environmental groups who want to stop any responsible development of natural gas on public lands.'"
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