Public Comment Deadline 11/9/2019.
In August the BLM announced their 4th Quarter December Lease Sale. Surprisingly, a large chunk of these parcels up for sale are located in the Absaroka Beartooth Front, particularly in rural populated areas that will have adverse effects on human health and safety; water for people, agriculture, and wildlife; wildlife movement and habitat that correlate to Park County’s economic base through tourism, hunting, and fishing; and private property values. Also, not to be understated, much evidence remains of this nation’s first people all along and throughout this watershed. You can find a map of these December lease sale parcels here:
The Oil & Gas Lease Sales map shows parcels proposed to be offered for lease by the Bureau of Land Management.
If you are interested in submitting comments you still have a chance to protest these lease sales. The protest deadline is November 9th. Protests must be mailed or faxed in, there’s no option to submit online or via email. Protest instructions can be found in the 4th quarter “Competitive Sale Notice” available here (bottom of page): https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage¤tPageId=174032.
Full information and instructions on how to comment:
BLM has dismissed protests entirely for trivial procedural errors, so it’s important to follow those guidelines closely.
If you choose to make a protest here are some things that might be worth it to include…
- The recent preliminary injunction of the Trump-era 2019 sage grouse plans in WWP v. Zinke , the stronger Obama-era sage grouse plans from 2015 are back in effect. Asking the BLM to defer leasing in designated grouse habitat on that basis, to ensure leasing complies with that order is an important point to make.
- Asking that mule deer migrations corridors to be deferred pending Gov. Gordon’s executive order.