Red, Green, and Blue

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today the department would cancel leases issued under the Bush administration allowing oil and gas drilling on more than 100,000 acres of Utah wild lands, much of it surrounding some of Utah’s most iconic treasures.

The sale of 77 leases on 103,000 acres near Canyonlands and Arches National parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon will be deemed invalid.

The original lease auction on December 9th occurred amid intense protest from environmental groups, conservationists, outdoors enthusiasts, the National Park Service, and members of Congress. Perhaps the most effective protest, despite my earlier assertions otherwise, came from Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah student who made winning bids on 13 of the 77 leases with no intention of paying the required $1.8 million in bids. The ensuing chaos creating by DeChristopher’s bids threw the entire process into doubt.

A coalition of environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, filed suit to stop the leasing. In January, federal judge Ricardo M. Urbina granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Bureau of Land Management from moving forward with the leases.

And today Interior Secretary Salazar hammered the final nail in the coffin of the ill-advised lease sale.

Sierra Club Deputy Director Bruce Hamiltion said of Salazar’s actions:

“Today’s announcement by Secretary Salazar signals a new era in the way our natural resources are managed. The Obama administration clearly understands that instead of allowing the oil industry to destroy places like Arches National Park, we should be investing in the kind of clean energy solutions that curb global warming and leave our natural treasures intact.”

Image credit: iStockPhoto

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