Feds propose land management plan for southern Utah

Federal officials have released a proposed plan for a public land use — including mining and oil and gas drilling — in southern Utah. 

The leasing plan, years in the making and announced on Wednesday, covers mining, grazing and oil and gas production in an area covering 785,000 acres of public land around Moab, Utah. That area includes two national parks and areas operated for recreation and leasing under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

{mosads}The proposal is the latest in a string of BLM leasing plans released since the agency decided to reform oil and gas leasing on federal lands in 2010. Officials are reviewing master leasing plans for other tracts of federal land in the west, including in Colorado and Utah. 

The Interior Department praised the plan as one to balance “the protection of the iconic scenery in and around Moab and access to the rich energy resources found there.”

Conservation groups agreed. A coalition of groups put out a statement saying the draft plan would close off future oil and gas leasing around several natural landmarks in the area and protect the national parks in the region, while setting new terms on leases there. It wouldn’t, however, block off fossil fuel development entirely. 

Chris Saeger, the director of the Western Values Project, called the proposal “a model for future energy development on American public lands,” and Stephen Bloch, the legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said it’s “a significant step toward better BLM management of oil, gas and other minerals in the heart of Utah’s red rock country.”

“This common-sense plan recognizes that outdoor recreation is an economic engine for towns across the West and ensures a responsible approach to locating energy production,” Jesse Prentice-Denn, the advocacy director of the Center for Western Priorities, said. 

The proposal received 28,000 comments, the Interior Department said in a statement. It will be available for another round of public comments beginning Friday.