In fact, almost one-third of the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado has already been leased for oil and gas development. And over 11.8 million acres of land—about 93 percent of the federally-controlled mineral estate—has been opened for leasing by C
Sitting Pretty: The numbers show that the oil and gas industry is flourishing on our federal lands, while sitting on thousands of unused drilling permits and tens of millions of acres of idle federal leases.
On December 19, 2008, BLM issued leases covering close to 150,000 acres in Utah. Plaintiffs have challenged 77 of those leases, totaling around 103,000 acres. The potential natural gas and oil under these contested leases in Utah amounts to a miniscule amount of energy. At best (not taking into account prices or other obstacles to development), these leases could provide 0.02% of annual oil and just 0.5% of annual natural gas consumption.
Sitting Pretty: The numbers show that the oil and gas industry is flourishing on our federal lands, while sitting on thousands of unused drilling permits and tens of millions of acres of idle federal leases.
Conservation groups today applauded a new report from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that points to flaws in a December 2009 Utah oil and gas lease sale. The report indicates that among the BLM’s shortcomings was a failure to inform the National Park Service of a last-ditch effort that added more tracts of land to the lease sale.
“We are extremely heartened that the Department of the Interior is acknowledging that there were important errors that need to be fixed in this lease sale,” said Nada Culver, Legal Counsel at The Wilderness Society.