The US Bureau of Land Management's Utah office said on Dec. 12 that it will offer 132 oil and gas parcels totaling 163,935 acres at its Dec. 19 lease sale, down from the 241 tracts proposed initially. The sale also will offer 44 geothermal parcels.
Officials said that the deferred tracts now include two parcels near an existing geothermal plant at Cove Fort to give the US Forest Service more time to analyze potential land impacts, and eight parcels to provide more time to determine cultural and historic impacts. They said that further consultation will be needed to determine the potential impacts of specific sites on the Pony Express National Historic Trail corridor.
The final list also includes 80,015 acres in the Fillmore area until that BLM field office completes its oil and gas leasing environmental assessment, they added.
Previously deferred tracts included all or part of 23 parcels totaling 37,731 acres near US national parks, tracts in the Nine Mile Canyon area below the canyon's rim and in the Desolation Canyon area, and parcels over coal fields to avoid potential conflicts with underground mining.
The sale originally would have offered 241 tracts covering 359,450 acres. The final list includes geothermal as well as oil and gas tracts in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, San Juan and Uintah counties in Utah as well as three geothermal parcels totaling 8,676 acres in Idaho and 11 geothermal parcels totaling 41,363 acres in Washington, Utah's BLM office said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]
