OIL AND GAS: BLM unveils proposals for protecting scenic Utah lands
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E PM: Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The Bureau of Land Management this afternoon unveiled new maps detailing how it might protect lands in eastern Utah from oil and gas and mineral exploration, a key step in its so-called master leasing plan (MLP).
The maps offer an early glimpse of how BLM is considering preserving view sheds from Arches and Canyonlands national parks, as well as opportunities to hike, climb and ride mountain bikes around Moab.
The agency will present the maps to the public in Moab this evening. In the fall, it will finalize alternatives in a draft environmental impact statement.
The Moab MLP will guide future oil and gas and potash leasing on nearly 800,000 acres of federal lands.
Each of the alternatives unveiled today would close significant new areas to development while setting aside roughly half of the planning area for no-surface disturbances -- a key victory for conservation and recreation advocates.
"We're encouraged and pleased BLM is moving ahead with the process," said Steve Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "It's a long time coming."
The MLP process is designed to allow BLM to plan for oil and gas development at a finer scale than in its resource management plans. MLPs require BLM to consider implementing best management practices, phased development or no-surface occupancy (NSO) for new leases, and to consider closing off some areas altogether.
The oil and gas industry has criticized the policy as a redundant layer of planning that will further stifle exploration opportunities on public lands.
"BLM spent five years on resource management planning" in Moab, said Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs at the Western Energy Alliance. "They're now going back and doing yet more analysis. We find this constant analysis on top of analysis to be redundant."
The industry estimates the lands contain 145 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 32.5 million barrels of oil.
BLM released three action alternatives and one no-action alternative.
Alternative C appears to be the most restrictive. It would increase areas closed to oil and gas development from the current 1,192 acres to 119,000 acres focused around the borders of the parks, riparian areas and the Colorado River. That alternative would also expand lands requiring no surface disturbances -- meaning resources could only be accessed through directional drilling -- from 138,103 acres to 564,990 acres. No potash leasing would be allowed under the alternative.
Two other alternatives -- B1 and B2 -- would require slightly less acreage to be closed to development and allow some additional surface disturbance. Those alternatives would close a majority of the lands to potash development but would allow controlled surface use in areas already targeted for exploration.
BLM's final MLP is not scheduled for completion until January 2016, President Obama's final month in office. It is designed to last for the duration of BLM's Moab resource management plan, which could last several years to well over a decade.
Bloch said he is encouraged by BLM's alternative C, which he said would better protect park view sheds, recreation sites for climbing and hiking, and areas frequently used for film shoots. But he said it fails to protect some roadless lands in the Hatch Point area that are proposed for wilderness designation in the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act.
The alternative would provide certainty both for recreation-dependent Moab businesses and oil and gas companies, he said.
While BLM is pursuing 15 other MLPs across millions of acres of public lands in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, the Moab plan is among the most closely watched because the lands are so coveted by conservationists and energy companies.
In some ways, Moab was the birthplace of BLM's MLP policy, which was introduced in May 2010 by then-BLM Director Bob Abbey.
It stemmed from the George W. Bush administration's decision in late 2008 to sell oil and gas leases within sight of Arches and Canyonlands. One of then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's first moves upon coming to office was to withdraw 77 of the most contentious leases. The MLP policy evolved shortly thereafter.
Given the steady price of oil and improved horizontal drilling technologies, BLM expects that without new restrictions, about 128 wells will be drilled over the next 15 years in the Moab planning area -- more than twice the rate of the past several years.
But above those minerals lies a recreation mecca marked by sinuous canyons, sandstone spires and crimson buttes that sees roughly 1 million visitors annually.
