BLM, Park Service renew ties

Utah Bureau of Land Management officials said they made a mistake in not keeping the National Park Service in the loop on an upcoming oil and gas lease sale.

The two agencies decided Monday to renew a 1993 document that stated that they agreed to meet annually to discuss common interests and concerns. The so-called memorandum of understanding stipulated that the BLM must give the Park Service advance notice of oil and gas developments on public lands near national parks.

That advance notice didn't happen with an oil and gas lease sale planned for Dec. 19 in Salt Lake City. After getting last-minute notice about the BLM's plans, the Park Service objected to the BLM's offering of parcels that border Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument.

BLM state director Selma Sierra and the Park Service's regional director Mike Snyder are expected to announce Tuesday which of the more controversial parcels bordering the parks and monument will be pulled from the sale.

"It was a mistake on our part that we didn't get them notified," said BLM spokeswoman Mary Wilson. She said the new agreement will be reworked before it's signed.

Wilson was not specific about which parcels might be yanked from the lease sale. The BLM has already agreed to pull a parcel near Moab that was in the middle of a residential area and golf course. Critics of the BLM lease sale are fearful that drilling could someday take place near Utah's iconic Delicate Arch inside Arches National Park.

Sierra and Snyder said in a joint statement Monday that the BLM and Park Service "are working toward resolving issues on lease parcels in question, as well as on how to proceed with future lease sales."

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com