The “devil is in the details” as the expression goes, and the issue of mineral leasing is no exception. First, we applaud and support the Forest Service for the choice of the no leasing decision it prefers in the case of the 44,720 acres, and second, the Department of Interior/BLM for rescinding the leases it never issued in this acreage and most recently for establishing reforms to the leasing process. These reforms are not a “silver bullet” that will correct all the problems, but they are an important, and major, step forward.

In fact, this particular case, the 44,720 acres is the perfect “poster-child” for the Interior Department's recently announced leasing reforms that require environmental analysis, like the one the FS just released, before BLM makes a decision to lease the public's energy resources.

Regarding the “details” (or connecting the dots) and the motivation for reform, several years ago, the Department of the Interior's Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) determined that because the environmental information used by the Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the basis for a decision to lease 44,720 acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in northern Sublette County for energy exploration was so badly out of date, the leasing decision should be revisited, and ordered a new environmental analysis to be done as required by law. Last week, the Forest Service released the IBLA directed analysis, in the form of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to better inform a new leasing decision. Based on current information, the Forest Service has concluded that its preferred option is no leasing. We congratulate the Forest Service for following the evidence, and in particular for making this choice. The draft document is out for public review.

The stage for reform was set by what transpired in this case (and others). Bad leasing decisions are rampant throughout the Intermountain West. The basis for the Wyoming BLM's original 2005 decision to lease the 44, 270 acres was a 20 year old BLM plan and a 10 year old Forest Service plan update. Too old to be relevant the IBLA said. As a consequence, the original decision to lease was met by challenges from several quarters, and a long, protracted and continuing legal process followed. To correct for that misstep, BLM in August of 2009 rescinded those leases within the 44,720 (about half) that were never issued, gave the companies back their bid money and last month issued reform to the process. Legal action against the BLM by two companies continues.

Leasing decisions, as in all important land use decisions, should be based on current, not obsolete, information; this approach, embodied in the reforms will avoid such an elongated processes fraught with controversy and legal challenges in the future. We applaud the Interior Secretary Salazar for these reforms, and regret that they were not in place sooner. The federal government's experience with the 44,720 acre parcel, including the time and effort leading to the newly issued FS Supplemental analysis that remedies the gross deficiencies the IBLA identified, provides clear evidence that the reform works, specifically, if it were to have been applied originally at the front end of the leasing decision process. The FS has produced a credible analysis, enough for them to conclude that their preference (among 6 alternatives five of which are variants of leasing options) is the no leasing option. Had the BLM/FS in fact done this kind of analysis when the leasing decision was on the table back in 2005, all the subsequent actions, 5 years of challenge and legal action could have been avoided.

Informed decisions are necessary to assure that where the drilling takes place is appropriate, rather than anywhere the "geological bloodhounds" sniff the potential for oil and natural gas. Water, air, wildlife, public health and safety are all at risk, and Wyoming can't afford that gamble by a “lease-develop-anywhere” policy. The message in these reforms is that leasing decisions made hastily and uninformed by current environmental information about an area can have serious consequences. Wyoming has already experienced severe consequences of a promotional leasing and development program. The message we take way from the FS's supplemental, is that when site specific analysis is applied to a leasing decision, the preference of the managing land use federal agency, in this case the FS, can be a site-specific no leasing decision. This is a refreshing step.

Finally, another key component of the reform is the inclusion of public participation in the leasing decision process. For more than five years SDSBT's ability to affect decisions has been stymied by a process that has been expedited and clandestine, and facilitated by 60-70 year old laws. There has been no recourse in “reason” or the “specific case.” Even with the passage of the WRLA, the situation for example, in the upper Bridger-Teton National Forest (BT)/ the proposed Eagle Prospect Noble Basin development plan, remains. The lands are included in the Wyoming Range withdrawal area adjacent in fact, to the 44,720 acres; no future leasing will occur there, but the existing leases remain viable and dependent upon voluntary action by the company to give them back or allow them to be bought back. So, despite the gains via the WRLA legislation that Wyoming wanted and Congress supported, site-specific areas like the upper-BT, the greater Yellowstone area, and neighboring communities in Bondurant continues to be at risk. Had the reforms that the Interior Department recently put in place in 2010 been in effect during an earlier period, the upper-BT and this project never would have never been administratively approved as it was and leases would have long ago expired. SDSBT continues to participate in the process seeking better decisions and preventing process from impeding common sense.



Linda J Cooper, SDSBT president and spokesperson, Bondurant







For the complete article see the 02-05-2010 issue.

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