Land Letter

OIL AND GAS: Enviros to file protest over controversial Utah lease sale today

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Environmentalists are very concerned about potential leases in the Upper Desolation Canyon area. Photo courtesy of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

A week after Bureau of Land Management officials announced they would pull two dozen parcels near three national parks in Utah from an upcoming lease sale but keep other controversial parcels on the auction block, environmental groups have decided to protest the sale. The lease sale will still include most of the parcels that the National Park Service expressed concerns about, as well as others -- primarily in the Desolation Canyon and White River areas -- that environmental groups are concerned about. Several groups, including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Grand Canyon Trust, plan to file a formal protest today in an effort to get BLM to remove as many as 100 additional parcels from the list. While BLM did defer leases on parcels below the rim of the West Tavaputs Plateau in Nine Mile Canyon and in the Desolation Canyon area until it can do a more in-depth analysis, "this sale still includes the largest block of unleased wilderness-quality lands in the Desolation Canyon area," said Stephen Bloch, conservation director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, based in Moab.

NATURAL GAS: La., Interior wage war over lake's lucrative mineral rights

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

As natural gas drillers rush into northwest Louisiana to tap what some say could be the biggest new domestic source of natural gas, the state is caught up in a…

FORESTS: Thinning, carbon sequestration not at odds, studies suggest

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

While forest managers are on a quest to purge the nation's forests of hazardous fuels, scientists at the same time are calling for managing forests to sequester carbon. Since trees…

OIL AND GAS: Enviro groups demand moratorium on new tar sands development in Canada

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Environmental groups this week issued a report condemning tar sands developers for damaging Canada's boreal forest ecosystem and demanded Canada stop issuing new development permits until tighter regulations can be…

OIL AND GAS: Enviro groups sue to force regulations on Allegheny exploration

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service to force the agency to conduct environmental reviews and collect public comments about potential oil and gas projects in Allegheny…

ABANDONED MINES: Water supply, fish stocks, recreation propel efforts to clean Colo.'s Peru Creek

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Though the mining operations along a stretch of northwest Colorado were shut down decades ago, the lingering toxic pollution continues to plague state and federal officials who are grappling to…

WATER: Groups sue to halt all San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta diversions

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

A California water conservation group and sportfishers association jointly sued state and federal agencies over water diversions in the San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta, accusing the agencies of violating responsible resource…

CLIMATE CHANGE: Southwest's piñons in peril, scientists say

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Researchers are finding evidence that hotter, drier weather patterns associated with climate change may take a heavy toll on piñon pines in the Southwest. Drought and higher-than-average temperatures in recent…

INVASIVE SPECIES: Discovery of zebra mussels in Md. waters triggers concerns

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Maryland officials have confirmed the arrival of the zebra mussel in state waters, presaging what could be a rapid population explosion of the adaptable mollusk with potentially devastating repercussions for…

WIND POWER: Mont.-Alberta power line moves forward, landowners remain concerned

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

The first direct power transmission connection between Montana and Alberta, which would provide grid access for three proposed major wind projects in northern Montana, could go online as early as…

PUBLIC LANDS: BLM to modify emergency withdrawal authority

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

This article ran in Greenwire. The Bureau of Land Management will keep a regulation allowing the agency to withdraw land from development on an emergency basis but will cut back…

FORESTS: Calif. judge limits roadless rule to 10 states

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

This article first ran in Greenwire. Trying to temporarily resolve a clash created by two conflicting court decisions, a federal judge in California ruled Tuesday that the 2001 Roadless Area…

MINING: EPA approves mountaintop removal rule changes

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

This article first ran in Greenwire. U.S. EPA on Tuesday approved changes to the rule governing mountaintop mining activity near bodies of water, the last step needed to finalize a…

TRANSITION: Obama adds to Interior transition team

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

This article compiles dispatches to E&ENews PM and Greenwire. President-elect Barack Obama this week named a former head of the National Park Service, a Latino environmental activist and a preservationist…

SHORT TAKES: Interior, Wetlands, Energy Corridors, Endangered Species, Oil and Gas, Border Fence

Thu Dec 04 14:00:00 EST 2008

Rahall, scientists push Grijalva for Interior secretary The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee wants President-elect Barack Obama to appoint Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) as Interior secretary, joining a…