SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Energy producers suing the federal government contend Interior Secretary Ken Salazar should not have revoked oil and gas leases based on their proximity to national parks in Utah because the parcels are miles away.
The drilling companies said Thursday none of their parcels is closer than 15.5 miles to a park, and that some are 60 miles away.
Salazar voided 77 of the leases auctioned off by former President George W. Bush's administration in December because, he said, they were at the doorstep of Utah's redrock parks.
But lawyers for drillers who filed the federal lawsuit contend Salazar was misled about the proximity of the parcels to Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument. Three of Utah's counties filed a separate lawsuit challenging Salazar's decision.
One of the plaintiffs, Denver-based Questar Exploration & Production Co., contends every one of the yanked parcels was adjacent to an existing and valid lease parcel. The company disputes environmentalists' claims that the 77 parcels would encroach on wild areas of Utah or despoil views from the national parks.
"This story has not been told until now," said Jay B. Neese, executive vice president of Questar's gas-producing division. "The withdrawn lease parcels had been open for leasing for the last 30 years, and many of these parcels contained rights of way for roads, transmission lines and pipelines."
Also suing are Denver-based Impact Energy Resources LLC and Peak Royalty Holdings LLC of Heber City.
Both companies are independent drillers and not just land speculators, their lawyers said.
The three Utah counties — Carbon, Duchesne and Uintah — said in their lawsuit they stand to lose thousands or millions of dollars in oil-and-gas royalties from Salazar's decision.
Salazar will reconsider the 77 leases once President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the department is confirmed, his press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, said Thursday.
Senate Republicans blocked David Hayes' nomination on Wednesday.
That effort was led by U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who says Hayes doesn't have to be in place for Salazar to fulfill his promise to reconsider the lease parcels and have the U.S. Bureau of Land Management reissue some of the leases.
Neese indicated that the lawsuits were an attempt to nudge Salazar in that direction.
"We hope this dialogue will result in the BLM reinstating the companies' leases," Neese said. "More importantly, we hope to restore integrity to the BLM lease process."
Robert S. Thompson, one of the Denver lawyers who represent the drillers, said none of the parcels involved in the lawsuit is closer than 15.5 miles to a national park — and that those parcels are separated from Arches National Park by state Route 191.
"We believe the secretary was supplied with misinformation," Thompson said.
The 77 leases had already been put on hold by another federal lawsuit filed months ago in Washington, D.C., by conservation groups, and they said no judge can compel Salazar to reverse himself in the meantime.
For that reason, the legal challenge from the drillers and counties will be thrown out of court, predicted Steve Bloch, a staff lawyer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Those lawsuits were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
The Dec. 19 auction had problems from the start when a college student grabbed a bidder's paddle to run up prices and take parcels between Arches and Canyonlands national parks for safekeeping.
Tim DeChristopher, who acknowledged he couldn't pay for his leases, was indicted by a federal grand jury April 1 for interfering with and making false representations at a government auction. He has pleaded not guilty. Trial was sent for July 6.
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