Environment Groups Set for New Fight Over Drilling on U.S.-Managed Utah Land

So last month, when the federal Bureau of Land Management announced its intention to open portions of the 2,000-square-mile stretch of central Utah for drilling by private oil and gas companies, conservation groups reacted with alarm.

The debate over the proposed sale of drilling leases has rekindled tensions between those seeking to shield wilderness areas, and the Obama administration, which has come under pressure from oil and gas companies to develop more public lands as it pursues a policy of energy independence.

For nearly 100 years, the bureau has leased tracts of federally managed land to energy companies, which have sought to tap reserves in oil- and gas-rich states like Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Disputes over the location of the drilling are not uncommon.

But the announcement that dozens of parcels would be auctioned off in the Swell, a largely untouched geologic formation, came as a surprise to environmental groups, who are worried that the administration’s energy strategy is shifting away from its promise to be environmentally sensitive.

“We were very surprised and disappointed to see this turn of events,” said Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “It’s a step backwards. To see a place like the San Rafael Swell be put up on the chopping block makes no sense.”

On Monday, the Utah group, along with several other conservation organizations, filed a formal protest with the bureau, asking that it withdraw 55 of the proposed leases. The groups claimed the bureau had not sufficiently weighed the environmental consequences of opening parts of the Swell for drilling.

Bureau officials say that recent policy changes intended to slow the leasing process now ensure that tracts of land, like those within the Swell, are carefully examined before drilling is allowed. And they have disputed assertions that they are appeasing energy companies, which have been critical of the administration for being too restrictive.

“The B.L.M. is continuing to move towards full implementation of more environmentally responsible approaches to oil and gas development as outlined in our May 2010 leasing reforms,” wrote Celia Boddington, a bureau spokeswoman, in an e-mail. “Nationally, implementation is a work in progress but we are already seeing positive results.”

According to bureau data, formal protests lodged over controversial leases were down, to 317 last year from 1,475 in 2009. Leases are also down. In the 2012 fiscal year, some 1,729 were issued, the fewest in any year for a decade, according to bureau data.

The leasing program has faced less opposition recently than it did during the Bush administration, when conservation organizations were mired in legal battles with the federal government over how tracts of land were sold.

Those disputes boiled over during the end of Mr. Bush’s presidency, when 77 oil and gas leases were sold near Utah’s national parks and recreation areas.

An environmental activist, Tim DeChristopher, went to prison for buying nearly $1.8 million worth of the leases without ever intending to pay.

In 2009, Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, withdrew the leases, saying they had been rushed. A year later, the leasing program was revamped, seeking to better clarify which lands were appropriate for drilling.

Now, after energy companies nominate leases, state bureau offices must undertake a more stringent environmental review and leave more time for public comment before the auctions.

But environmental groups say those changes have been slow to take hold, and that parcels are being put up for lease in areas where they had fended off oil and gas drilling in the past.

In 2012 in Colorado, the bureau offered parcels near Mesa Verde National Park for lease, only to defer them before a February auction this year. A variety of organizations, including the state’s parks and wildlife agency and the National Park Service, raised concerns about the leases. Environmental groups said they expected the land to be proposed for leasing again.

In Utah, which has long been ground zero for the fight over public lands, environmentalists noted that the bureau itself considered some parts of the Swell to have wilderness characteristics.

The area does not, however, have federal protections that would bar drilling altogether. In 2002, Gov. Mike Leavitt suggested that the Bush administration designate a portion of the Swell as a national monument, but changed his mind after local residents opposed the idea.

And there are some who want to see development move forward.

“The environmental groups that are complaining don’t really know where the leases are or don’t care,” said Commissioner Jeff Horrocks of Emery County, who said many in the mineral-rich area felt the Swell could be developed while also preserving the environment.

Cody Stewart, energy adviser to Gov. Gary R. Herbert of Utah, said that Mr. Herbert had no issue with the leases, and that there were other parts of the Swell that better warranted protection.

“We don’t see these leases as in high-priority conservation areas,” he said.

Whether the land ultimately goes to auction, slated for November, is unclear.

Juan Palma, Utah director for the Bureau of Land Management, said the bureau was reviewing concerns about drilling in the Swell.

The bureau recently removed about 1,000 acres from the parcels set aside for auction — though the Utah wilderness group noted that that was only a small portion of the contested leases.

View the original article here

Dot Earth Blog: Encouraging Results Seen in First Nationwide Look at Gas Leaks from Drilling Boom

View the original article here

Plan to Ban Oil Drilling in Amazon Is Dropped

The plan won applause from environmentalists, and international luminaries like Bo Derek and Leonardo DiCaprio opened their wallets. The plan was backed by the United Nations, but governments generally balked at contributing, and only $13 million was collected.

“The world has failed us,” President Correa said as he withdrew the offer in a nationally televised news conference on Thursday night. “With deep sadness but also with absolute responsibility to our people and history, I have had to take one of the hardest decisions of my government.”

The pioneering effort was administered by the United Nations Development Program. It was originally set up after potential reserves of nearly 800 million barrels of oil were found in the Yasuni national park, which is inhabited by two isolated Indian tribes.

Its goal was not only to protect a pristine rain forest with a rich mix of wildlife and plant life but also to ease future climate change by preventing more than 400 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. The park was designated a world biosphere reserve by Unesco in the late 1980s.

Local and international environmentalists expressed disappointment with President Correa’s decision, and hundreds of protesters gathered outside the presidential palace in Quito, the nation’s capital.

“It could have been used as a model for other sensitive areas,” said Matt Finer, a scientist with the Center for International Environmental Law, referring to the fund. “But now that it has failed, there is really no alternative model that is attractive to governments unable or unwilling to forgo drilling solely on ecological grounds.”

Oil pollution in the Ecuadorean jungles has been highlighted by two decades of lawsuits against Chevron, whose predecessor, Texaco, worked as a partner with Petroecuador, the state oil company, in the 1970s before it was acquired by Chevron.

Chevron lost a case in an Ecuadorean court two years ago, but it has refused to pay more than $18 billion in damages. It argued that Texaco had done a cleanup and that most of the pollution that was left was caused by Petroecuador after Texaco left. Enforcement proceedings are at various stages in several countries since Chevron has no assets in Ecuador.

President Correa has publicly sided with Amazon residents who complain that their homelands were spoiled. But the Ecuadorean government still relies on oil for one-third of its tax revenue, and the government is running a large budget deficit. Ecuadorean oil production is about 500,000 barrels a day, making it the fifth-largest producer in South America. Although President Correa is a frequent critic of the United States and its foreign policy, most Ecuadorean oil exports go to the United States.

The three oil fields in the park represent roughly a fifth of the country’s 7.2 billion barrels of oil reserves and could generate more than $7 billion in revenue over a 10-year period, according to Ecuadorean oil experts.

China, which has become the largest source of financing for the Ecuadorean government as it seeks to secure more oil supplies from Latin America, is a likely beneficiary of any increased Ecuadorean production. In July, Ecuador obtained a $2 billion loan from the China Development Bank in exchange for nearly 40,000 barrels a day of oil from Ecuador to PetroChina over two years.

View the original article here