BLM Moab to prepare environmental assessment on oil and gas lease sale
Aug 23, 2012 | 2247 views | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend | print
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Moab Field Office announced last week that it received multiple comments during the scoping period for a proposed February 2013 oil and gas lease sale. The scoping period ended August 13. 

“[The BLM] would like to thank everyone,” officials said in a news release. “There were multiple comments submitted and the BLM is grateful for the public’s participation in our planning efforts.”

The recent scoping effort was to identify issues to be analyzed and considered in the upcoming environmental assessment on the proposed lease sale. BLM officials said the primary public concerns that were expressed were related to “the adequacy of the time to review and comment on the proposed lease sale and environmental assessment,” and “water quality, specifically groundwater and hydraulic fracturing.” 

“The BLM will address concerns raised from external scoping, internal scoping and field reviews of the proposed lease parcels in our analysis within the environmental assessment,” officials said in the news release.  

Once the draft of the environmental assessment is completed, the public will have 30 days to comment on the study, according to the news release. The comment period is expected to begin in late September and continue through most of October, officials said. 

A description of the project and maps of the proposed lease parcels can be found on the Environmental Notification Bulletin Board at https://www.blm.gov/ut/enbb/index.php. Additional information is available at www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/moab or by calling the Moab field office at 435-259-2100.

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