Blm Scales Back Utah Oil And Gas Sale, But Greens Still File Formal Protests

摘要

The Bureau of Land Management said last week that it will withdraw additional parcels from a forthcoming oil and natural gas lease sale in Utah, but the concession was not enough for environmental groups, which filed formal protests with the agency. BLM said Tuesday that it would defer leasing areas of Nine Mile and Desolation canyons and several parcels located over coalfields. The move comes just days after BLM said it would pull several parcels that the National Park Service had said were located too close to several parks and a national monument As of now, the December 19 auction will include parcels on a total of 276,025 acres of public land, some 83,000 fewer acres than BLM had proposed when it first announced the sale on November 4. The agency added that it could withdraw still more parcels pending the outcome of the 30-day protest period, which ended late last week.