In a big win for Utah’s spectacular canyon country and a common sense approach to the national energy policy, on February 4,  the new head of the Department of Interior pulled 77 parcels that were part of a controversial oil and gas lease sale offered by the Bureau of Land Management in some of Utah’s most unique canyon country. Calling the lease sale a threat to Utah’s “iconic treasures” Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar ordered the BLM to reverse the offering of the parcels which were part of an auction on December 19 in Salt Lake City.

Salazar said that he relied, in part, on a recent decision by the federal Court for the District of Columbia which granted a temporary restraining order requested by several environmental groups to stop the sale of the parcels. In issuing the TRO, the court questioned the legality of the BLM’s process for bitting the parcels up for bid to the oil and gas industry and Salazar agreed that the controversial sale, which originally included about 6 times more acreage than the average oil and gas lease sale offered by the agency on an quarterly basis, appeared to be rushed through in the waning hours of the Bush administration.

Yet, it is clear that other factors contributed to Salazar’s decision. While he refused, for example, to comment on the fate of Tim DeChristopher, who won bids totaling about $1.5 million on more than 10 lease parcels in an attempt to disrupt the December 19 auctions, before Salazars announcement on February 4, the BLM had said that it will have to re-offer the parcels Tim purchased during another sale sometime in February 2009, which would have been after the Obama Administration took office. While the head of President Obama's transition team, had said that the lease sale should be halted or altered to accommodate environmental concerns, he also said that the sale would be difficult to overturn due to certain contract obligations to bidders, if the sale had been completed while Bush was still in office. Tim was able single and spontaneous act of civil disobedience, therefore, accomplished what activists had been trying to do for months since the announcement of the sale—get them out of the hands of the Bush administration and into the hands of the Obama team. This, in turn, made it possible for Salazar to legally reverse the sale of the 77 parcels.

Certainly, other factors also contributed to the demise of industrial development of Parcels. Ever since their announcement on election day in November, for example, in addition to the Obama team, the lease sale has brought a waive of protests from the public, the National Park Service and members of Congress. The grassroots efforts to stop the sale were lead by common citizens and local conservation organizations like Red Rock Forests located at ground zero in Moab, Utah which was one of the first to raise the red flag about the sale. In addition to being one of the Plaintiffs listed on the law suit that brought the TRO, Red Rock organized community meetings, acted as a clearinghouse for information about the sale and was one of the organizers of a protest in front of the BLM office in Salt Lake during the sale. The Center for Water Advocay played its part by assisting Tim’s attorneys in his defense, setting up a legal defense fund to assist in addressing potential federal criminal charges should they be brought against him.

The public and political pressure regarding the sale initially paid off as the BLM pulled back from its original proposal to lease 360,000 acres and offered 149,000 acres of parcels during the auction. Finally, the public outcry, the lawsuit and Tim’s actions created the perfect storm of international media attention. Salazars actions to pull the parcels gives Utah’s scenic canyon country, water supply and aesthetic beauty a breather for now and is a feather in the cap of the grassroots organizing and a public who cares about this very special since of place.

In a big win for Utah’s spectacular canyon country and a common sense approach to the national energy policy, on February 4,  the new head of the Department of Interior pulled 77 parcels that were part of a controversial oil and gas lease sale offered by the Bureau of Land Management in some of Utah’s most unique canyon country. Calling the lease sale a threat to Utah’s “iconic treasures” Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar ordered the BLM to reverse the offering of the parcels which were part of an auction on December 19 in Salt Lake City.

Salazar said that he relied, in part, on a recent decision by the federal Court for the District of Columbia which granted a temporary restraining order requested by several environmental groups to stop the sale of the parcels. In issuing the TRO, the court questioned the legality of the BLM’s process for bitting the parcels up for bid to the oil and gas industry and Salazar agreed that the controversial sale, which originally included about 6 times more acreage than the average oil and gas lease sale offered by the agency on an quarterly basis, appeared to be rushed through in the waning hours of the Bush administration.

Yet, it is clear that other factors contributed to Salazar’s decision. While he refused, for example, to comment on the fate of Tim DeChristopher, who won bids totaling about $1.5 million on more than 10 lease parcels in an attempt to disrupt the December 19 auctions, before Salazars announcement on February 4, the BLM had said that it will have to re-offer the parcels Tim purchased during another sale sometime in February 2009, which would have been after the Obama Administration took office. While the head of President Obama's transition team, had said that the lease sale should be halted or altered to accommodate environmental concerns, he also said that the sale would be difficult to overturn due to certain contract obligations to bidders, if the sale had been completed while Bush was still in office. Tim was able single and spontaneous act of civil disobedience, therefore, accomplished what activists had been trying to do for months since the announcement of the sale—get them out of the hands of the Bush administration and into the hands of the Obama team. This, in turn, made it possible for Salazar to legally reverse the sale of the 77 parcels.

Certainly, other factors also contributed to the demise of industrial development of Parcels. Ever since their announcement on election day in November, for example, in addition to the Obama team, the lease sale has brought a waive of protests from the public, the National Park Service and members of Congress. The grassroots efforts to stop the sale were lead by common citizens and local conservation organizations like Red Rock Forests located at ground zero in Moab, Utah which was one of the first to raise the red flag about the sale. In addition to being one of the Plaintiffs listed on the law suit that brought the TRO, Red Rock organized community meetings, acted as a clearinghouse for information about the sale and was one of the organizers of a protest in front of the BLM office in Salt Lake during the sale. The Center for Water Advocay played its part by assisting Tim’s attorneys in his defense, setting up a legal defense fund to assist in addressing potential federal criminal charges should they be brought against him.

The public and political pressure regarding the sale initially paid off as the BLM pulled back from its original proposal to lease 360,000 acres and offered 149,000 acres of parcels during the auction. Finally, the public outcry, the lawsuit and Tim’s actions created the perfect storm of international media attention. Salazars actions to pull the parcels gives Utah’s scenic canyon country, water supply and aesthetic beauty a breather for now and is a feather in the cap of the grassroots organizing and a public who cares about this very special since of place.