BLM delays sale of leases on 16 parcels

The Bureau of Land Management has decided to defer the sale of leases on 16 parcels of land. The proposed sale has been somewhat controversial, even drawing a recent court ruling in response to environmentalists' concerns.

As of Friday, none of the leases on those parcels have applications available for permits to drill for oil, according to a statement posted on the BLM's Web site.

The contested parcels, part of 334,000 acres including 216 parcels that are to be sold Aug. 15, are being reconsidered due to the Aug. 2 ruling by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball.

In the ruling, Kimball said the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not considering new information about the wilderness values and characteristics of the 16 tracts of land.

That violation, according to Kimball's ruling, was two-fold.

"(The BLM) sold four leases in the Richfield field office without first preparing an adequate pre-leasing document, and it sold the challenged leases after arbitrarily determining that it did need to supplement existing NEPA analyses in light of the agency's own Wilderness Inventory and subsequent new information provided by Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance."

The decision to sell the four leases in the Richfield office "was not supported by adequate pre-leasing NEPA analysis," he wrote.

The BLM said Friday it is "giving serious consideration" to the order filed by Kimball and plans to take the questioned parcels off the list of those for sale in the upcoming opportunity.

A list of the parcels still available, and any updates on the sale can be found at www.ut.blm.gov.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com