I heard on the radio this morning that following negotiations with the National Park Service, BLM has removed the contentious lease parcels from the offering. Hopefully that means the Moab trails are no longer at risk.

Dear Mr. *****:

Thank you for writing to express your opposition to opening the red rock canyon area in eastern Utah to oil and gas exploration. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.

On December 19, 2008, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) auctioned oil and gas leases to permit drilling on nearly 150,000 acres of public land in Utah. I agree that expanding oil and gas exploration in Utah's red rock canyon area could degrade wilderness quality lands and increase air pollution in adjacent National Parks. As you may know, several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to block the sale of the proposed Utah oil and gas leases. In response, BLM agreed to delay issuing the leases and give Judge Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia time to consider whether the leases should move forward. On January 17, 2009, Judge Urbina issued a temporary restraining order that prevents BLM from proceeding with the contested leases.

I also share your concern that BLM did not consult the National Park Service (NPS) before designating which Utah lands would be available for oil and gas leasing. It may interest you to know that after the NPS raised concerns about many of the proposed leases with BLM, more than 20 parcels of sensitive land near National Parks were removed from the December 19 auction.

In my view, BLM should have proceeded more carefully and given greater consideration to the ecological integrity of the red rock canyon area as it considered opening these spectacular lands to oil and gas exploration. I will keep your thoughts in mind should this matter come before the United States Senate.

Again, thank you for writing. If you have any further questions or comments, please contact my office in Washington, D.C. Best regards.

Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator