Wilderness groups, recreationists defend 'cautious' energy development approach

Wilderness groups were joined by hunting and fishing guides who say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been right to take a "cautious" approach to energy development on public lands, despite criticism by the oil and gas industry and some Utah politicians.

In a Wednesday teleconference, representatives from The Wilderness Society and the National Wildlife Federation defended Salazar's decision earlier this year to pull 77 oil and gas leases that had been offered at a controversial Bureau of Land Management auction in December 2008.

"The review by the BLM staff of the flawed Utah leases offers a lot of good ideas for moving forward," said Ann Morgan, The Wilderness Society's vice president for public lands and a former BLM state director in Colorado and Nevada.

"It is the right time for the Interior Department to step back," she said, adding that "the public should expect a new interior secretary would examine how business is being done."

Morgan and other teleconference participants stressed that they are not opposed to energy development, but feel oil and gas producers were granted inordinate access and little oversight during the Bush administration.

"It is the BLM who are the stewards of our natural resources, not the oil and gas industry, who should decide when, where and how development occurs," Morgan said.

Industry indignation and politically conservative furor erupted after Salazar announced in February he was pulling back 77 parcels of oil and gas leases that had been proffered, bid on and won at a Salt Lake BLM auction.

Saying that many of them were located on the doorsteps of "iconic" Western treasures and national parks, Salazar yanked the parcels and said an on-the-ground team would then determine their suitability for resource development.

In October, Salazar announced that eight of the parcels were not suited for oil and gas development, 17 were appropriate and 52 would remain on hold pending additional review.

John Gale, a sportsman and National Wildlife Federation representative, said such scrutiny is warranted given the potential threats to prime hunting and fishing grounds by pell-mell exploration.

Additional land offered for development should be done at a slow, cautious pace, especially since so much land bid on and won by would-be oil and gas developers remains untouched, he said.

"I don't know where they grew up, but you don't ask for a second helping if you have not touched what is on your plate already," Gale said.

The teleconference was organized in response to recent criticisms launched by the oil and gas industry, which has said Salazar's decision to yank the leases turned seven years of review on its head and ignored land management decisions by his own staff.

e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com