Turnout was small and sales were few at the Bureau of Land Management’s Nov. 17 quarterly oil and gas lease sale for land in eastern Utah. The BLM announced it would sell leases on 20 parcels, totaling 28,549 acres, in areas under the management of three BLM-Utah Field Offices – Moab, Price, and Vernal.

According to a news release from the BLM, only five of the 20 parcels were sold. The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States says politics is to blame for the low sales.

A study released by IPAMS accuses the Obama administration of “circumventing” the BLM’s public planning process that created resource management plans for the three areas. The RMPs, IPAMS argues, not only justified the sales but also assured “aggressive environmental protections,” according to a press release from the group.

The result of only five sales stands in sharp contrast to last December when the BLM sold oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of land in eastern Utah. Barely a month after the sale a federal court issued a temporary restraining order halting the BLM from issuing leases on those parcels by a federal court.

Following that court action, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar directed his deputy, David Hayes, to subject the 77 parcels to much more rigorous analysis before they are put back on the auction block or reinstated.

“It is clear that in the rush to sell the leases, the previous administration bypassed normal reviews and consultations with the National Park Service,” Salazar said in a statement on the report’s findings. “[M]any of the 77 parcels that were auctioned off are close to National Park units and even closer to other sensitive, world-class landscapes including Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon.”

“Our analysis shows that all parcels are near existing wells and/or existing leases, and all but one are miles away from national parks,” said Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for IPAMS. “IPAMS believes that all seventy-seven leases were legitimately sold at the December 2008 sale, and should be reinstated to the winning bidders.”

After Salazar directed that the lease sales be withdrawn, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) blocked the appointment of Hayes as deputy secretary. According to national news reports, Bennett’s action, described as a “bargaining chip,” led to a commitment from Hayes that he would evaluate the lease sale and make recommendations.

Hayes’ analysis led to formation of an interdisciplinary team that recommended that 17 of the parcels be leased, 52 parcels be deferred for further study, and eight parcels be withdrawn, according to a Department of Interior news release.

That recommendation is what drew the ire of IPAMS, and an accusation that “DOI’s subsequent decision to support [the team’s] recommendations demonstrate an unfortunate lack of regard for the seven-year public planning process that produced the RMPs,” Sgamma said.

In a separate action the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Interior directs the BLM to raise the processing fee it charges for oil and gas permit applications from $4,000 for each application to $6,500 to better cover the cost of processing the applications, according to BLM officials.