N.Y. lawmaker calls for probe of BLM in Utah

A New York congressman is calling for an investigation of the Bureau of Land Management's Utah operation, saying a lobbyist's e-mail suggests the agency agreed to manipulate land-use plans to benefit the oil and gas industry.

But a BLM spokeswoman responded that the agency acted in a "fully appropriate" way in a meeting with officials of several rural Utah counties. And the lobbyist says not only was there "absolutely" nothing wrong, but the counties involved were carrying out their duty to be junior partners with the BLM.

The controversy broke Wednesday when the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council arranged a teleconference about an e-mail note from lobbyist Robert K. Weidner. At one time an aide to then-Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, Weidner is now the head of a Washington lobbying group, the Rural Public Lands County Council.

The group, based in Washington, represents about 20 rural counties in Utah and one each from Washington state and Nevada.

On July 25, Weidner wrote an e-mail to officials of several rural Utah counties noting that on July 18, Uintah County hosted an oil and gas summit for the counties. The newly appointed state director of the BLM, Henri Bisson, attended the meeting, as did a state official, according to the memo.

Bisson is expected to stay in Utah until the end of the year, "which means counties have between now and then to take full advantage of his talents and desire to favorably resolve controversial public land issues," Weidner wrote.

The memo urges counties to "strike while the iron is hot" in finalizing BLM resource-management plans. The plans are the governing documents that will guide public land policy for the next 20 years, Weidner wrote.

"Working with the new state BLM director and the state to 'fix' these RMPs is an opportunity which may never come again!" the memo said.

SUWA posted the memo and other information about the issue on its Web site, www.suwa.org.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., wrote on Wednesday to Earl E. Devaney, inspector general of the Interior Department, calling for an investigation.

"It has come to my attention that certain Bureau of Land Management officials have taken recent actions that appear to have compromised the integrity of the BLM's resource-management planning process and have eroded the protection of federal lands in the state of Utah," Hinchey wrote.

Hinchey is the lead sponsor of a proposed wilderness act to designate more than 9 million acres of land in Utah as wilderness.