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BLM nets $1.3 million from oil, gas leases Colorado oil and gas lease sale includes land near Dinosaur National Monument; 51 of 55 leases offered sold May 12 The Associated Press
About 200 acres of land near the Dinosaur National Monument was included in an auction May 12 of federal oil and gas leases that totaled $1.35 million.
The Bureau of Land Management sold leases on 51 of the 55 parcels offered for a total 27,012 acres.
Not included in the auction were 17,502 acres in southwestern Colorado, which the agency postponed auctioning after landowners facing drilling on their property complained they didn’t have enough notice. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., and county commissioners in western Colorado asked that the auction be postponed.
Federal officials also yanked a 653-acre tract 6 miles south of the boundary of the monument in northwestern Colorado. BLM spokesman Vaughn Whatley said the agency wants to review new information about the parcel.
Environmental groups said that more than 14,000 acres pulled from the bidding are habitat for the Gunnison sage grouse, which federal officials are studying to determine if it should be added to the endangered species list.
Erin Robertson, a biologist with the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems, said the groups appreciated the BLM removing the parcels from the auction, but would like to see more land protected to ensure the bird’ recovery.
Acreage nominated for sale The law requires the BLM to hold quarterly auctions of leases nominated by companies and others for sale. The auctions have become more contentious as rising natural gas prices have dramatically increased drilling in Colorado. The land yanked from the auction includes parcels where people own the surface but not the minerals under the land.
Those who own or lease the minerals, which are often owned by the federal government, have the right to the reasonable use of the surface land to extract the minerals.
Congressman Salazar asked that the auction be canceled altogether because landowners had little notice due to problems with a BLM Web site. Salazar said it’s long a way for most people to drive to BLM field offices, where the information was posted 45 days before the sale.
Whatley said the BLM the agency doesn’t have the ability to contact individual property owners, many of whom don’t live in Colorado.
BLM state director Ron Wenker said the agency is exploring other ways of notifying the public about future sales.
“We are reviewing the best way to keep private property owners notified about mineral lease sales while still fulfilling the BLM’s role of making the public mineral estate available for responsible development,” Wenker said.
Any action on the leases withdrawn from the auction is on hold while the BLM decides what to do with them. The next auction is in August.
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