Utah BLM land for sale

[azdesertfather]

Did you hear that the Bush administration has been secretly trying to push through selling a bunch of land in southern Utah for oil drilling? Lands with petroglyphs and canyons...some of which include land near Nine Mile Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

To read more, Google "auction of scenic utah land"...a CBS News article comes up.

[PaleoRob]

I have heard about this. UGH!

[rally_toad]

I heard about it... and wrote a protest letter to the BLM, I have been in that part of Utah and it is gorgeous, and some of the most gorgeous parts are on the BLM land. The auction was the 19th, but protesters and 2 monkey wrenchers crashed it and it is likely to go to court. They think that if they could just tie it up until Jan 20th (when the new president is sworn in) than it wont be happening.

[JimmyLyding]

The Bush administration is also trying to go around the Endangered Species Act before leaving office. Ask the folks who voted for W if they approve of these types of actions, and ask them if they really thought that he would do different. It's as if James Watt were our President.

[rally_toad]

It just makes me sick. Anyone who has been to Arches and seen Delicate Arch knows that this is just wrong.

When I was in Moab the most beautiful area I saw was a wilderness study area on BLM land, lands like that are threatened by this auction.

Please contact your representative, write the BLM and send emails to the Obama transition team letting them know how you feel about this.

I was very close to flying to Salt Lake and taking part in the SUWA protest outside the auction, but money was an issue for me and I wasnt able to. Looks like they were able to hold it up without me.
A U of U student won land parcels totally 1.8 million dollars that he has no intention to pay for, these are the parcels outside Arches and Canyonlands. The auction was called off because of this person, and it is likely to go to court now. The head of the Obama transition team has made it clear that they do not support the efforts to open up these parcels for drilling. However I am still dissapointed that Raul Grijalva was not tapped for interior secretary, he seemed like a no brainer and the best choice.

[mapit]

its very sad that the most unpoplar president needs to feed his chronic urge to destroy beyond his 8 years of shock and awful

[chumley]

Let me begin by stating that I believe that we need to protect and preserve many places for a variety of reasons, whether it be historical significance, natural beauty, unique landscapes, wildlife habitat, etc.

But the problem with something like this is that you have to look at it within the context of the law. The BLM is the Bureau of Land Management. Whether you agree with it or not, it is not the Bureau of Land Protection or Preservation. The BLM is set up to manage federal lands. The CBS News article on this quotes Robert Redford saying this: ""These lands do not belong to Bush and Cheney. It's our land - public lands - and the BLM is supposed to be protecting lands on our behalf," which is absolutely false! You and I might want this land preserved for our recreational enjoyment, and while some BLM land IS protected for recreational use, that is just one little piece of "managing" the land.

National Parks, Monuments, Preserves and Wilderness Areas are the land designations which are intended to actually protect and preserve the land ... sometimes even from low-impact use such as hiking. (States and other local governments have additional but separate preservation options).

The BLM actually states that "it is responsible for managing resources on 258 million surface acres and 700 million subsurface mineral estate" and it "administers mineral leasing and oversees mineral operations on Federal mineral estate underlying other state, private, or Federally-administered land, and manages most mineral operations on Indian lands."

The auction of Utah's land is part of the normal process of managing the land, and probably has more to do with the current economic climate than anything else. The main fact is that the leases sold "provide significant economic benefits to the Nation and to states and counties where these lands are located. Revenues generated from public lands make BLM one of the top revenue-generating agencies in the Federal government. In 2007, for instance, BLM's onshore mineral leasing activities will generate an estimated $4.5 billion in receipts from royalties, bonuses, and rentals that are collected by the Minerals Management Service. Approximately half of these revenues will be returned to the States where the mineral leasing occurred."

With Arizona's current state deficit, and the financial gain possible from utilizing the system in place to generate revenue from BLM lands, I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar contracts being auctioned here.

The fact is, there are a lot of people on this planet, and those people need to use some of the resources the planet provides. There will always be a NIMBY argument, and sometimes for just cause. But because something is "adjacent to" protected land does not mean that it is also protected. There has to be a boundary somewhere. BLM land is NOT protected. Its not fair to complain about an agency doing exactly what it was set up to do.

[Jeffshadows]

I was expecting this kind of depravity out of him; now I'm sad that it has come to pass...

[JimmyLyding]

Semantics don't mean much to me, and they evidently mean even less to the federal government.

The National Forest Service is part of the Department of Agriculture. In that context it could easily be argued that National Forests are for nothing more than harvesting trees. We know that the Forest Service doesn't treat its lands that way because recreation, residential, transportation, and watershed concerns as well as the extraction of trees are all things that the it must consider.

The Army Corps of Engineers was set up to provide flood control protection. Our nation, particularly the West, is full of ACE products that were built expressly for water reclamation if not in law than in fact. However, reclamation happens to be the province of the Bureau of Reclamation. Lots of BOR products also provide flood control.

As for the royalties that the BLM sales generate: they're not worth the permanent destruction of so many beautiful places. We will feel poorer. Well, those of us who aren't oil company executives and/or stockholders.

[writelots]

I've been watching this one through the Wilderness Society - they're a watchdog group that I think sometimes goes to far, but at least keeps me in the know. Today they announced...

"Just days after The Wilderness Society and six other conservation groups brought a lawsuit to protect 100,000 acres of wilderness quality lands from leasing, the BLM announced that, while it would sell the leases in these areas, it would temporarily halt the issuance of the leases until January 19 - the final full day of the Bush administration... Yesterday, members of Congress called on President-Elect Obama to cancel the lease sales altogether. Federal regulations are clear that the administration can cancel any lease it determines has been improperly issued."

While I agree with Chumley that there is a value to land which should be appropriately managed by the controlling agency, I firmly and emphatically believe that there is value to cultural, natural and unique aesthetic qualities of a place - beyond what materials may be contained in, on or above the ground. We need to calculate ALL of the values of a place before we decide which value to "harvest". To operate our country in such a way that land should only be managed for the monetary value of it's material is exceedingly short sighted and undervaluing our greatest assets.

[Jeffshadows]

Here's how I conceptualize it: We don't own any of this land. We're temporary stewards here. We have a responsibility to protect it and take only that which we truly need, leaving the rest for others and nature.

[nonot]

Leasing implies that you are paying to borrow something and will return it back to the original owners in pretty much the same shape you got it. Since when having mining companies returned land back in remotely the same state they have left it in?

It's not leasing the BLM does, it's selling the land for profit and then re-taking ownership of the land at the end so the taxpayers have to deal with the cleanup costs.

[chumley]

I agree with what most have posted in this thread. I just think that sometimes the people or organizations who are most concerned about protecting or preserving land misdirect their angst toward agencies that are acting exactly within their original purpose and scope (typically BLM and NFS, also State Trust). Hopefully, however, with situations such as this that draw the attention of the public, there can be changes made to how federal lands are managed, and what the priorities of that management should be. Unfortunately, I don't see any worthy changes happening because its all about politics, and in politics, money rules.

[azdesertfather]

Here's how I conceptualize it: We don't own any of this land. We're temporary stewards here. We have a responsibility to protect it and take only that which we truly need, leaving the rest for others and nature.

YES! Couldn't have said it better myself

[mapit]

the day the black hills of south dakota get returned to pristine and to their treaty owned status then I will believe BLM is ethical.
I think in economic struggle that a very old quote from an ex brit Prime minister give perspective.

"when a family or nation sells the family silver they get to sell the property of their heirs and it can not be undone"
Sir Harold Macmillan (1980s}

[mapit]

Another thought on this ,The election this last year ,It was missed by many that supported him Ron Pauls agenda ,in his manifesto he laid out a plan to sell off all the national parks to be run by Private Companies. I think we all need to watch all the dealings of govt ,and the agencies they are supposed to work for us.

[rally_toad]

Really? Ron Paul is a character, there was some congressman named Pombo in California who proposed that a few years ago, luckily he has since lost re-election.

Our BLM land is already run by private companies basically! And BLM land is still public land, yes our land, it belongs to us not to the oil companies or mining companies.

Terry Tempest Williams had a really good editorial about this in the Salt Lake Tribune, google "Oil lays waste to the west".

But for those who think this deal is okay, I would advise you to spend some time on the BLM land around Moab, the most beautiful place I saw near Moab was a WSA in a canyon called Negro Bill Canyon, I looked on the parcel map and there are parcels within a mile of this canyon.

[Randal_Schulhauser]

More last minute "presents" for Utah by the Bush Administration. Maybe justice has already been served in this case...



Southwest Archaeology Today for Dec. 24, 2008

Southwestern Archaeology Making The News - A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

- President Bush Pardons Pothunter: A St. George man convicted in 1992 of digging up ancient Indian ruins on public lands in Garfield County has been pardoned by President George W. Bush. David Lane Woolsey is among 19 people being pardoned for various crimes as the president prepares to leave office. Woolsey was convicted of an aiding and abetting violation of the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act and sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service.

[PaleoRob]

More last minute "presents" for Utah by the Bush Administration. Maybe justice has already been served in this case...



Southwest Archaeology Today for Dec. 24, 2008

Southwestern Archaeology Making The News - A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

- President Bush Pardons Pothunter: A St. George man convicted in 1992 of digging up ancient Indian ruins on public lands in Garfield County has been pardoned by President George W. Bush. David Lane Woolsey is among 19 people being pardoned for various crimes as the president prepares to leave office. Woolsey was convicted of an aiding and abetting violation of the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act and sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service.

Just saw that today too Randal. Ugh.

[Jeffshadows]

More last minute "presents" for Utah by the Bush Administration. Maybe justice has already been served in this case...



Southwest Archaeology Today for Dec. 24, 2008

Southwestern Archaeology Making The News - A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

- President Bush Pardons Pothunter: A St. George man convicted in 1992 of digging up ancient Indian ruins on public lands in Garfield County has been pardoned by President George W. Bush. David Lane Woolsey is among 19 people being pardoned for various crimes as the president prepares to leave office. Woolsey was convicted of an aiding and abetting violation of the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act and sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service.

Just saw that today too Randal. Ugh.

If he likes pottery so much perhaps we should find him and dip him in clay and leave him out in the KOFAs to dry