The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to offer 5 parcels, totaling approximately 2,258.57 acres on BLM-managed land and 4 parcels, totaling approximately 4,954.05 acres on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Forest System (NFS)-managed surface at the March competitive oil and gas lease sale. The BLM parcels are located in Uintah and Grand counties on public lands managed by the BLM’s Vernal and Moab Field Offices. The NFS parcels are located in Sevier and Wayne counties on Fishlake National Forest land managed by the Fremont River Ranger District. 

Additionally, the 2020 BLM Utah Annual Air Monitoring Report has been published and is also located on ePlanning. To locate, please click "Related Projects & Links" tab and click the "BLM-Air Resource Management Strategy" link.

How to Submit a Public Comment:

The BLM offered a 30-day public comment period from December 17, 2020 to January 19, 2021.  The BLM extended the comment period an additional seven days to review the draft FONSI because the document link was broken during the initial comment period. The extended public comment period ended on January 28, 2021. 

Please note that the most useful comments are those that identify issues relevant to the proposed action or contain new technical or scientific information. Comments which contain only opinions or preferences, or comments that are essentially identical to other comments will not be specifically addressed in the environmental documents, but may be considered in the decision-making process.

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment - including your personal identifying information - may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. 

Please click "Participate Now!" to submit your comment or protest. Protests must be received by 4:30 pm on February 22, 2021. Any comments received by other methods will not be accepted.

Background

The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], and the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987, require the BLM to conduct quarterly, competitive lease sales to offer available oil and gas lease parcels. Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to nominate parcels for leasing by the BLM are submitted by the public. From these EOIs, the BLM prepares the parcels and determines whether or not the existing analyses in the Land Use Plans, as amended, provide basis for leasing oil and gas resources within these parcels, and conducts additional NEPA analysis before determining if parcels are suitable to be offered.