Salazar yanks shale leases

Yet another blow was delivered to Utah's oil industry Wednesday by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar with his announcement that he is canceling a second round of offering oil shale research and development leases on federal land in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.

He said the solicitation made in January involving millions of acres by the Bush administration was flawed, the result of a midnight decision made without the appropriate "regulatory framework."

"They were last-minute leases that did not pass the smell test, in my view," Salazar said in a Washington, D.C., teleconference with the media.

The decision marks the second time Salazar has reversed a decision of the previous administration involving Utah's public lands. Earlier, he rescinded bids made on 77 parcels of Bureau of Land Management land for potential oil and gas development offered at a December auction in Salt Lake City. He characterized the offering of the bids in much the same way, saying the Bush administration rushed headlong into the process in its waning days without proper review. Some of the parcels, he said, were located in close proximity to many Utah landmarks, including Canyonlands and Arches national parks.

In Wednesday's decision, Salazar said too many questions remain on the table regarding oil shale development, including impacts on water and the environment, as well as the cost of extraction.

A new notice for solicitations will be published Friday — but they will not involve the same leases offered in January.

That will kick open a public comment period, after which his department will craft a "configuration that makes sense to us."

Steve Bloch, attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, lauded Salazar's decision.

"What he is proposing makes a lot of sense, and that is not to rush ahead pell-mell and offer large swaths of land until companies can affirmatively demonstrate that shale development is economically feasible and can be done in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner."

In contrast, his action was met with criticism from both sides of Utah's congressional delegation, with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, blasting the secretary's "go-slow approach" and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who said shutting off domestic exploration and production is "short-sighted and unwise."

A 79-year prohibition on oil shale development was lifted in early January after Congress allowed the moratorium to expire.

Salazar said the nation's approach to energy policies needs to encompass solar and other renewable energies and added too much emphasis has been placed too soon on oil shale development.

Those who see it as a "panacea for America's energy needs have been living in fantasy land," he said."