Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship requests withdrawal of public lands from oil and gas leasing
By David Jenkins
On Sept. 5, Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship formally requested that the Department of the Interior withdraw approximately 117,000 acres of public lands in five western states from future oil and gas leasing. The Trump Administration recently made all of the parcels contained in this petition available for lease without success.
“These lands include critical big game habitat, migration corridors, trout streams, popular outdoor recreation areas, drinking water sources, and significant historic sites,” said CRS President David Jenkins. “They should now be released so they can serve the purposes for which they are best suited. It certainly makes no sense to lock up these important public resources, which rightfully belong to all of us, for an oil and gas industry that has shown no interest in them.”
The lands listed in the petition represent a small subset of the 11.4 million acres of public lands that the administration, in an effort to make oil and gas drilling the dominant use of America’s public lands, has unsuccessfully attempted to lease.
“Responsible stewardship and multiple use are conservative principles that have guided America’s public land management for more than a century,” said Jenkins. “The Trump administration has turned this tried-and-true approach on its head, threatening the public access, resource quality, and diverse revenue stream that western communities depend on.”
Many of the parcels CRS is asking to be withdrawn were put up for lease over the objections of state and local government agencies that better understand the true value of these lands.
In Utah, the petition includes almost 5,000 acres that BLM attempted to lease around Otter Creek State Park in June 2017, prompting a letter of concern from the State of Utah. Also included are over 18,000 acres along the western edge of the San Rafael Swell — one of the most popular recreation destinations in central Utah, if not the entire state.
Through this petition, CRS seeks to highlight the pitfalls of the administration’s so-called “energy dominance” policy, characterized by a blanket approach to leasing that subordinates all other values to oil and gas production.
As great conservative icons from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan understood, the truly conservative path is a balanced approach wherein conserving our fish and wildlife habitat, providing opportunities for outdoor recreation, and protecting our drinking water sources are on equal footing with development.
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