Auction Of Scenic Utah Land Draws Fire

Lame Duck Bush Administration Puts Up 164,000 Ares For Oil And Gas Drilling

(CBS/AP)  Conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block the Bush administration's last-minute sale of oil-and-gas drilling leases in Utah on spectacular scenery near national parks and ancient rock art panels.

The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled an auction Friday to sell drilling leases covering more than 100,000 acres of wild land in eastern Utah.

Actor Robert Redford, a longtime environmental activist, called the lease sale "morally criminal." Redford, who owns a home in Utah and hosts the annual Sundance Film Festival there, said the leasing issue is emotional for him, since he has spent much of his adult life in southern Utah, on foot and horseback.

"These lands do not belong to Bush and Cheney. It's our land - public lands - and the BLM is supposed to be protecting lands on our behalf," Redford said via satellite from Los Angeles during a news conference in Washington.

President Bush "may be a lame duck," Redford added, "but he can still quack. I say: Stop it. Enough is enough."

Sharon Buccino, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the Bush administration was rushing to approve the leases before leaving office next month.

"In their midnight maneuvering, BLM failed to complete the analysis required by federal law for the protection of America's natural and cultural treasures," she said.

A spokeswoman for the BLM declined to comment.

Buccino and other speakers said the land being considered for drilling is some of the most spectacular scenery in the country, including land near Nine Mile Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

The most controversial parcels directly abut Arches National Park, and oil and gas rigs on those sites would be visible to park visitors, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.

But industry officials say the impact of the rigs is being exaggerated and that they could be replaced with lower-profile equipment after just 30 days, Andrews reports.

The BLM has dropped more than half the parcels it originally proposed to lease, after the sales were criticized because of their proximity to national parks and ancient rock art panels. The National Park Service was among those that objected to the original plan.

The BLM's final list for the Friday sale includes 132 parcels totaling about 164,000 acres.

A Park Service spokesman said the final list reflects an agreement between the two agencies - both of which are part of the Interior Department.

Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., called the lease sale "an early Christmas present to the oil and gas industry from a lame duck administration with one foot already out the door."

"Once these pristine wilderness lands are destroyed we can never get them back," he said.

Baird said he was not impressed that officials had scaled back the original plan to lease about 360,000 acres of public land for oil and gas development.

"It's a little bit like someone telling you they're going to rob only part of your house," Baird said. "It is a final insult from an administration that has done so much to destroy this country."

Baird said he was confident the Obama administration would reverse the sales, but he said that was not guaranteed and should not be necessary.

A spokesman for President-elect Obama declined immediate comment.

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, named Wednesday as Obama's choice for Interior secretary, has not spoken publicly about the Utah lease plan.

In his four years in the Senate, Salazar has been a champion for "responsible" energy production on public lands - opposing efforts by the Bush administration to develop oil shale resources in the West and to open up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but helping to broker a deal allowing more offshore production.

Salazar has also been a vocal advocate of renewable energy, and the public lands he will oversee include some of the nation's largest sources of wind, solar and geothermal energy.

Redford, who has worked with Salazar on environmental issues, called his nomination encouraging and said Salazar has sent signals he opposes drilling on sensitive lands.

"He didn't farm oil rigs," Redford said, referring to Salazar's past as a rancher in Colorado.

[downsteamjim]

dmack865: How much fossil fuel did you consume on your many trips to this area?

[downsteamjim]

Impeach_O: The vast majority of buses and trains are power by fossil fuels. Also take the ''rubber'' tires off your bike.

[dmack865]

Let me guess...any of you b*ttheads who do not oppose this have never been to this part of the country. When I was told that land around the unique Arches and Canyonland National Parks is being auctioned off...AUCTIONED OFF...to oil and gas speculators, I was stunned.

This is the most singularly egregious disrespect of the U.S. National Parks, and of the American people to whom they were created, that I have ever seen. These areas are unquestionably national treasures, and are unique in the world. Not only are they of incredible beauty, but they are snapshots of the geographic history and fragility of this area.

I have visited and explored Canyonlands three times, and Arches National Park 11 times, while I was living seven hours away in Colorado. I wouldn''t trade the memories of the wonder of those places for anything, and certainly not for oil and gas.

Those who''ve made this decision must never have experienced these areas. If they had, there is no way they would even consider such an outlandish and ridiculous proposal. Would anyone even consider leasing land next to the Washington Monument for oil exploration?

[impeach_o]

If we all use the Bike, ride the Bus, the train and use the most minimalist type of vehicle..

then there will be no reason to lease any of these lands for oil and gas drilling...

(lord almighty..i think these people need an episode of ''south park'' to tell them the message)

[impeach_o]

a 8mpg ESCALADE stops and a liberal sticks his head out and scream "to hell with bush for destroying for oil and destroying the environment" ..closes the window turns on the A/C then continue on off roading along scenic UTAH.


yuu morons want this to stop..ranting like idiots would not stop it but makes it more complicated BECAUSE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU RANTING IDIOTS are part of the system that is destroying the environemnt..so damage continues on because you think your ''exempt''..

C O N S E R V E.

i give you guys that..no need to worhip me, elect me, nominate me for a noble prize or pay me top dollars for my movie FOR THIS ADVICE..

C O N S E R V E

[runningralph]

Alternative energy sources should be pursued. At the same time the US needs to develop more reserves. Lack of reserves will lead to more oil dependency in the future. Alternative energy sources have drawbacks too. How is a windmill more picturesque than a well head? Underwater generators have potential of killing marine life. Solar only works when the sun in shining. All energy sources should be developed.

[nativebottom]

The whites too shall pass - perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the eagle? Gone. Where is the buffalo? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival.


Chief Seattle 1855.

[nativebottom]

Where are the Buffalo? Gone.

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. How can you buy or sell the sky? The warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his fathers'' graves and his children''s birthright is forgotten.
There is no quiet place in the white man''s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand - the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night?

[kansas1946]

I bet your liberal arses we get far with that instead of whinning out arse to oblivion.


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Posted by LordSunTzu at 11:16 PM : Dec 17, 2008
+ report abuse
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You need to spend some time getting some facts put together about Bush and the oil industry in this country. These leases are not needed by the oil companies. This is just a last minute FU from Bush because the American people don''t like him.

[porkeater]

Crush the old goat pictures.

[tangouniforn]

The oil companies already have some 68 million acres under lease and they will not drill there. They are going to lock up as much of this country as they can before Bush is gone.

[kansas1946]

I think Bush wants to do as much damage as possible before he leaves. Thank God a law-suit was filed. That should hold things up a while. Will January 20 EVER get here!!!

[barbaram99]

People ye are right about bush. It is appalling . No US president has ever gone to prison. We need to find ways to lessen oil usage. I told my friend about the area. He said no just I say the same thing.

[cj7jeepstir]

What a blight on humanity and a stain on the history of this country this man is. It never ceases to amaze how low he can go. How much more damage will he do before he''s finally run out of town? He should be in prison, right next to Cheney.

[notfooled]

George W. Bush has never missed an opportunity to destroy what the rest of us have spent lifetimes protecting.

When will the trials for crimes against humanity, genocide, enviromental destruction, torture, illegal spying, and being an outright 962 time public liar (wmd) begin?

This man is a traitor to America.

And all those elected leaders in washington that have helped, cooperated, abetted, or just stood idly by while he destroyed this country are all traitors as well.

[csighence]

Bush has ruined the integrity and honor of the country in the eyes of the world, contributed to the downfall of our economy, and shows us once again what an environmental criminal he is. I hope he is remembered as the worst president this country has ever elected. The rest of my life will be spent recovering from the harm he has caused or contributed to. In his final days I would like to see him do one positive thing for the environment.

[kevboom]

Of course these auctions won''t even fetch a fair price for the land or resources, just like the government regularly sells off the national forests for a song. The people in Utah should be standing up for the beauty of their state which I''ve had the pleasure of visiting many times, but the conservatives living there are probably so blinded by their love for Bush, they probably think he''s doing them a favor by "stimulating business." Whatever. States will make far more money off long-term tourism over decades than they ever will over one-time raping of natural scenery by a greedy corporation. Just ask the people in Appalachian southern Kentucky, southwest West Virginia, and the northern counties of Eastern Tennessee, whose mountains have been stripped from the top, permanently destroyed with no hope of recovery and no hope of ever generating dollars from recurring tourism. More of Bush''s short-sited politics designed to make money for a few ultra-rich rather than protecting the rights and well-being of the people the worthless sack of trash was elected to serve. Good riddance.

[usclimey]

The little B@$**** really is trying to cement his position at the bottom the presidential list for th rest of time doesn''t he.

[endurorob]

They were probabaly trying to sneek it through because they were not confident it would pass the required analysis.

[barbaram99]

It don''t matter. They want to drill for oil so ye that drive that car will have it. Sorry I don''t think so. The sad think is why tear up this area for oil. Don''t.