Zinke suddenly pulls land in home state of Montana from oil and gas lease sale

[Hermit-The-Prog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/zinke-suddenly-pulls-land-in-home-state-of-montana-from-oil-and-gas-lease-sale/2018/03/05/c5e80664-20c3-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?utm_term=.49eaa2c70a8c

The Bureau of Land Management on Monday abruptly removed about 17,300 acres of land in central Montana from an upcoming oil and natural gas lease auction, just a week before the scheduled sale.

The Interior Department, which oversees one in every five acres of land in the United States, was set to auction off leases for 109 parcels stretching across the Big Sky State from the Canadian border to Wyoming.

But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who before joining the Trump administration represented Montana in Congress, decided to withdraw 26 parcels from consideration, along with portions of two others. A cadre of local and national environmental groups had filed formal protests against the sale, contending that drilling would adversely impact the Yellowstone River and other areas.

Interior will proceed starting next Monday with the auction of the remaining 83 parcels, which encompass nearly 46,200 acres.

[...]

[dhol82]

1. Must have gotten a major payoff

That would be routine.

[rickford66]

2. It is his home state after all.

What about lease sales in other states?

[Wellstone ruled]

3. His personal friend Folley

didn't want Oil Wells near his Ranch.

[SunSeeker]

4. Republicans are the biggest NIMBYs.

They are fine with degrading the environment, just not their own back yard.