BLM pulls land near parks from sale

National Park Service officials were relieved Tuesday when the Bureau of Land Management decided to pull from an oil and gas lease sale next month several parcels that were too close for comfort to Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument.

But the war with the BLM to protect the two national parks and the monument from encroaching oil and gas development is still on. That war now includes two letters from members of Congress, urging Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to do more to protect the areas.

The Park Service had expressed concern about 93 parcels around the parks and monument that the BLM planned to offer during the Dec. 19 lease sale in Salt Lake City. On Tuesday, the BLM said that it would defer from offering 24 of the parcels, according to the Park Service. That includes at least temporarily pulling a parcel off the table that could have hosted a drill rig within view of Utah's iconic Delicate Arch.

"It's a huge sigh of relief for us," said Mike Snyder, Denver-based regional director for the Park Service.

The Park Service had concerns about 93 parcels and had asked in a Nov. 24 letter to BLM state director Selma Sierra that 71 of those parcels near Canyonlands and Arches and 17 parcels near Dinosaur all be deferred on some level. Out of those parcels, the BLM granted the Park Service's request to completely pull from the sale 24 parcels totaling 37,119 acres near the parks and monument to allow for more review and analysis.

Sales of the remaining 64 parcels, covering more than 93,000 acres, must be deferred unless the BLM can meet certain conditions laid out by the Park Service.

Watchdogs aren't exactly rejoicing.

"It sounds like a window-dressing deal," said Stephen Bloch, an attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "It sounds like the Park Service was rolled."

Bloch said that in addition to leaving dozens of parcels in the sale next month that the Park Service had wanted pulled, the deal does nothing to address parcels in other "spectacular, wilderness-quality lands" such as Desolation Canyon, Nine Mile Canyon and the White River.

"The lease sale continues to be a disaster in the making for Utah's public lands" Bloch said.

The BLM on Tuesday released a map that showed several parcels around Nine Mine Canyon had also been removed from the sale offerings.

Earlier this month, state BLM leaders had decided at the last minute, without telling the Park Service first, to add certain parcels to the Dec. 19 sale. Park Service officials quickly found out that the parcels bordered Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument.