Protests Flood In On BLM Energy Leases On Book Cliffs, White River, Labyrinth Canyon - SLT

[hatrack]

Protests rolled in Thursday against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's upcoming oil and gas lease sale: Preservationists, conservationists, archaeologists, businesses, river runners, anglers and hunters criticized plans to allow drilling in some of Utah's most sensitive and popular public lands.

The protests challenge BLM's willingness to auction leases on lands near the White River, the greater Desolation Canyon region, Labyrinth Canyon, the benches east of Canyonlands National Park, Nine Mile Canyon, the Book Cliffs and the Deep Creek Mountains.

About 276,000 acres -- more than 430 square miles -- are up for lease Dec. 19 during the BLM's regular quarterly sale in Utah, the last under the Bush administration, which has made opening the West to drilling one of its signature policies.

Criticism from conservationists, the National Park Service, members of Congress and the head of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, who said the lease sale should be halted or altered to accommodate environmental concerns, has prompted the BLM to pull back from its original proposal to lease 360,000 acres. But plenty of anger remains.

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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11140585

[aquart]

1. Utah. Votes Republican?

They're getting exactly what they wished for.

[hatrack]

2. Yeppers - I'm just wating for the REI convention to find its ass with both hands and leave the state

Maybe someday . . .

[pscot]

3. That'll happen about the same time

they quit stocking their stores with stuff made in China.REI is the Walmart of outdoor merchandising, except for their prices.