Green Options » Bureau of Land Management

Army’s Desert Tortoise Translocation Plans Successfully Halted

Rhishja Larson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:53:31 +0000

The Army’s proposal to move 1,000 desert tortoises has been placed on hold by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, amid concerns over the Army’s previous plan that resulted in the death of 252 out of 600 tortoises.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced that a plan by the Army to move over 1,000 federally and state-listed threatened desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) from their Fort Irwin habitat to Bureau of Land Management lands has successfully been halted.

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“Tug-O-War” Oil and Gas Lease Sites Must Past Tribal Test

Ruedigar Matthes — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:20 +0000

Oil and gas leases have been a hot topic for a long time, especially since the controversial disruption of a BLM land sale by student activist Tim DeChristopher in Salt Lake City this past December. The sale which, according to some, was a midnight move by the Bush administration found itself floundering when an unknown bidder (DeChristopher) won parcel after parcel of land. Since December the leased parcels have been pulled back and forth between the BLM and the Interior, between developers and nature-lovers.

This story goes back before DeChristopher, back before the rushed lease sale. Yet it shows that the tug-o-war has been going on for years; and it hasn’t stopped. When the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) recently told the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that it cannot move forward with 11 oil and gas leases without following federal cultural preservation law and consulting with concerned Native American tribes, a sigh was heard coming from Nine Mile Canyon in southern Utah.

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Dodging Development: Conservation Group Reaches an Agreement Over Leased Land

Ruedigar Matthes — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:23:57 +0000

Salt Lake City, UT - The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) announced that on May 28, 2009 an agreement was made with Equity Oil Company (”Equity”) concerning oil and gas leases on lands in Utah’s San Juan County.

The agreement “gives SUWA certainty that oil and gas development in an important part of the Hatch Point proposed wilderness area will be subject to the applicable Resource Management Plan and additional restrictions,” said Stephen Bloch, Conservation Director and Attorney for SUWA.

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Paving Wilderness: Peril in Utah’s Book Cliffs

Ruedigar Matthes — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:20:43 +0000

Utah’s Book Cliffs exist as one of the largest expanses of land in the lower 48 states without a paved highway. The BLM, however, is considering a project that would change that. Uintah County’s Seep Ridge Road Paving Project proposes paving over an existing road, which would allow greater recreational (and other, including hunting and oil and gas exploration) access. The proposal states that:

“the road is currently composed of dirt or native material and several segments of the existing road do not meet current federal and state road design standards for public safety. All projections indicate a continued substantial increase in light and heavy vehicle traffic on the road, primarily associated with energy development in the Book Cliffs area.” (UT-080-08-0238 section 1.2)

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Feds Establish New Renewable Energy Coordination Office

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:08:34 +0000

Outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne issued a Secretarial Order authorizing the Bureau of Land Management to establish offices to expedite the permitting of renewable energy and associated transmission facilities on BLM lands.

The offices will oversee the the siting and permitting of wind, solar, biomass and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands in the American West. This process will be similar to other energy permitting work the BLM does for coal, oil and gas—like lease auctions, public meetings, comment periods and other tools of stakeholder management—except a lot less contentious.

The offices will be known as Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, and will initially be located in Arizona, California, Nevada and Wyoming.

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Utah Student Raises $45,000 to Protect Land from Drilling

Becky Striepe — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:24:46 +0000

Tim DeChristopher, the student who won over 22,000 acres of land at a Bureau of Land Management Auction, is on his way to purchasing the land, which was originally intended for sale to oil companies.

[Creative Commons photo by Wolfgang Staudt]

DeChristopher infiltrated a Bureau of Land Management auction on December 19th. Because the agency threw the auction together so hastily, he was able to get inside, grab an auction paddle and bid against the oil companies. He successfully raised the $45,000 by today in order to hold onto his claim.

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Utah Student Posing as Bidder Attempts to Save Land from Oil Drilling

Becky Striepe — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:09:00 +0000

In what he describes as a spontaneous decision, University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher attempted to purchase over 22,000 acres of southern Utah land to protect it from oil companies.

[Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. Creative Commons photo by Don Pugh]

De Christopher was headed to the Bureau of Land Management auction not to disrupt it but to protest. When he discovered how easy it was to go inside and become a bidder, he grabbed a bidding paddle and went for it. He now faces prosecution, though charges probably won’t be named until after the holidays.

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Conservation Coalition Protests Utah BLM Lease Auction: 100,000 Acres of Public Land for Oil and Gas Development

Derek Markham — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:42:27 +0000

A coalition of conservation groups has just filed a formal protest opposing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decision to auction off 100,000 acres of public lands for oil and gas leasing and development. Leases will be auctioned for wild and remote public lands in Utah, including White River, the greater Desolation Canyon region, Labyrinth Canyon, and the benches east of Canyonlands N.P.

The coalition includes Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), The Wilderness Society (TWS), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Grand Canyon Trust (GCT), and the Sierra Club. Together they represent over a million Americans who support conservation efforts.

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How Will A Carbon Market Drive Economic Land Reform?

Chris Milton — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:53:13 +0000

Gazing into the future of a carbon market, two things seem certain: a fundamental change to the economy and sweeping land reforms.

There are two well known and highly charged sayings about land:

The fast approaching world of a carbon market could see how we use land becoming the most important issue in stopping climate change becoming a disaster for mankind.

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United States Opening 190 Million Acres to Geothermal Energy Development

Levi Novey — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:03:35 +0000

On Wednesday the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a plan to open 190 million acres of federal lands to companies seeking to develop geothermal energy production plants.

The lands that will be opened are in Alaska and 11 western states. It is believed that the geothermal energy in time could provide electricity to 5.5 million homes.

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BLM Reverses Solar Moratorium in 6 Western States

Max Lindberg — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:52:08 +0000

The Bureau of Land Management has reversed it’s 22 month moratorium on new applications for solar power development on public lands.

In a statement issued today, the BLM said it will continue to process the applications while, “continuing to identify issues during public scoping underway for the programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).

In the statement, BLM Director James Caswell said:

“We heard the concerns expressed during the scoping period about waiting to consider new applications, and we are taking action. By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections.”

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