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In an effort to fast-track oil and gas development, the Interior Department, under Secretary David Bernhardt, has offered up millions of acres of public lands for leasing. But following a court ruling in March of 2019, the Bureau of Land Management has been forced to withdraw leases for failing to analyze the associated greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts. The administration's "energy dominance" agenda appears to be backfiring in Utah, where, for the fourth time this year, the BLM has decided to reanalyze thousands of acres of leases that had previously been sold for development in recent years.
The actions show that the BLM is acknowledging that inadequate environmental analysis conducted for these parcels would not hold up in court. Many of these parcels in Utah were also sold off without significant public input and the same situation is playing out in other Western states. “This map is only going to get bigger. This is a mess of BLM’s own making. This is the outcome of the blind rush for energy dominance,” said Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney Landon Newell.
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