WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reversing Bush administration policy, the U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday canceled energy leases that would have opened lands near national parks in Utah to oil and natural gas drilling.
"I have directed (the department's) Bureau of Land Management not to accept the bids," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters on a conference call.
Environmental groups hailed the decision. They had filed a suit against the leases, complaining that Bush was rushing through a last-minute plan to auction pristine wilderness areas. They also said exploration would hurt tourism.
Oil and gas industry representatives expressed concern about the Obama administration's energy policy.
Salazar said the department would return the $6 million in bids on the 103,000 acres of contested parcels of land. He also said the department would reassess the decision to open these lands to energy exploration, which drew a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers and environmental groups.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Government cancels leases for Utah oil, gas drilling
Monday, December 1, 2008
Obama's EPA and Interior Dept. will be busy undoing Bush damage
By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer
Few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration's most intense scientific and environmental controversies.
...
In June 2007, Obama told reporters in Reno, Nev., that he would not hesitate to reverse many of the environmental policies Bush has enacted by executive order.
"I think the slow chipping away against clean air and clean water has been deeply disturbing," Obama added. "Much of it hasn't gone through Congress. It was done by fiat. That is something that can be changed by an administration, in part by reinvigorating the EPA, which has been demoralized."
Friday, November 28, 2008; Page A02
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