BLM, NPS to settle? Utah parks may yet escape oil drilling

Lease sale for Dec. 19 might exclude parcels adjacent to national parks-

Utah parks may yet escape oil drilling. Land lease » BLM and Park Service may settle their dispute today.

By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune
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Original story in this blog from Nov. 9Utah oil and gas lease sale riles Park Service.

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Update 11-26. BLM backs off plan to issue drilling permits in Utah’s redrock country. Shoddy » Conservation groups criticize agency’s haste in issuing plans for 11 million acres. By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., sent a letter to Kempthorne saying, “this ill-advised fire sale of leases, which could irreparably harm the air, water and wildlife of three beloved national parks, should be halted.”

Grijalva, chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Interior secretary in the Obama administration.


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Comments

  1. April Clauson Avatar
    April Clauson

    Now that is some good new, not perfect but looks like we may be getting there with Obama’s people backing us, glad to see a AZ rep had a hand in it also, and now he is on Obama’s team, yeah! I am from AZ and I hate the way AZ is ran by the BLM and government official’s, they do not protect our lands and desert at all..

  2. Wyo Native Avatar
    Wyo Native

    Southern Utah and Arizona really need to address the off road “Jeep” trails and eliminate ALL offroading. They also need to require vehicles to stay on “Improved” only roads.

Author

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

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