BLM suspends oil, gas leases over rare ferret
Setback forces the bureau to review its wilds protection
The setback, involving protection of the highly endangered black-footed ferret, resulted in the suspension of some development of oil and gas leases in Utah. The suspension was the result of an appeal by environmental groups.
Meanwhile, environmentalists had a setback of their own when the Fish and Wildlife Service refused to list a plant that grows in eastern Utah's oil shale region as threatened.
The ferret:
The Bureau of Land Management has withdrawn its approval to drill on more than 29,000 acres about 20 miles southeast of Vernal. The action came after the Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled against the agency in a controversy over protection of the black-footed ferret.
This decision — and another in August by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball, halting lease development on 16 parcels concerning wilderness value — have forced the BLM to reconsider its environmental practices.
"In our view, our job now is to develop a strategy, because both of these (rulings) involve a NEPA question," said Terry Catlin, team leader for the BLM's energy support team, based in Salt Lake City.
The IBLA, a deliberative body within the Interior Department that considers appeals from decisions by agencies, ruled on Nov. 22 that "BLM has failed to comply with NEPA's procedural requirement to prepare an environmental analysis describing the effects of the proposed action. ... "
The proposed action was development of 15 parcels of federal land. Leases were issued to William P. Harris, Amarillo, Texas; Brownstone Ventures, Toronto; Retamco Operating Inc., Billings, Mont.; and Bill Barrett Corp., Denver. The leases were purchased in February 2003.
However, the IBLA ruled that the leases could hinder recovery of the ferret, because the region is good habitat for the animal's prey, white-tailed prairie dogs.
Catlin said the ruling involves procedure even though the ferret habitat would have been protected.
Now the BLM has decided to check its field offices where leases were challenged to check for problems with the process, she said.
"We want to develop a strategy," she added.
Catlin didn't have an estimate on how long that would take.
Erin Robertson, a Denver-based biologist with the Center for Native Ecosystems — one of the environmental groups challenging the BLM — said the board also found the BLM had ignored the input of the Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the prairie dogs and ferrets.
"BLM cannot get away with glossing over the real consequences of oil and gas leasing," she said.
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