For Immediate Release: April 9, 2004 
Contact: Vaughn Whatley BLM 303-239-3766, Steven Hall BLM 970-244-3052, Duane Spencer BLM 303-239-3753

BLM’s May 13, 2004 Oil &Gas lease auction Fact Sheet #1

• The May 2004 lease auction involves 74 parcels covering 73,759.181 acres.
• The sale notice was posted on March 29, 2004. Occasional changes (addendums) are made after a sale notice is posted, typically due to plat errors on mineral ownership, or other administrative type errors (like missing a stipulation, etc.). It is very rare to remove a parcel after posting the sale notice.
• The Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987, requires BLM to offer lands for lease on a quarterly basis.
• BLM determines what activities may occur on a given area of land through preparation of land use plans (Resource Management Plans) based on extensive environmental analysis and public input.
• BLM is mandated, by the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, to manage the public lands for multiple uses, which may include energy development, under existing approved land use plans.
• Protections are in place to minimize potential impacts from oil and gas exploration, development and production. It is important to remember that energy development and protection of natural resources are not mutually exclusive on public lands. BLM ensures that development of energy resources is done in an environmentally sound manner on all lands we manage.
• Before drilling can occur, site-specific environmental assessments and reviews are done as part of the Application for Permit to Drill (APD). Conditions of approval at this stage provide further protection of natural resources and compliance with regulations governing oil and gas development.
• The Resource Management Plans for all theareas where parcels are being offered for lease, allow for oil and gas exploration and production. If parcels are bid on successfully, they will then be issued as leases with protective stipulations.
• In Colorado, only lands nominated by an interested party are made available for leasing, provided oil and gas development is allowed by the land use plan. BLM does not select lands to offer for lease. In the past, all land available for lease was offered at auction regardless of the interest from industry.
• Anybody, including private land owners or environmental groups may bid on the parcels offered at the quarterly lease auctions.
• Lease sales can be protested. The parcels can still be offered with the bidders being notified that no lease will be issued until the protests are resolved. When a protest is made, the standard process is for it to be reviewed by the State Office. If a protest is denied, the protesting party can appeal to the Interior Board of Lands Appeals in Washington, D.C.
• BLM’s authority to designate Wilderness Study Areas expired in 1993. Wilderness Areas can only be designated by Congress.
• When preparing land use plans or revisions, the BLM will consider information on wilderness characteristics (such as the former Citizens Wilderness Proposal (CWP) areas), along with information on other uses and values. The BLM can make a variety of land use plan decisions to protect wilderness characteristics.
• When implementing our current land use plans, the BLM reviewsany new information contained in a CWP to determine if it contains significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or if it includes impacts that have not previously been analyzed.
• For the May 2004 sale, there will be parcels offered which lie within areas covered by the former Citizens Wilderness Proposals. These include lands within the Hunter Canyon, Big Ridge, Oil Spring Mountain, Dragon Canyon and Cow Ridge CWP’s.
• When parcels of land are leased for oil and gas development, one-half of the money received for the leasing rights and rental fees, as well as one-half of the royalties are given back to the state, which sends the funds to the counties to pay for schools and other infrastructure operations.
• The Department of the Interior has a key role in meeting the nation’s critical energy needs.
• Energy use sustains our economy and our quality of life, but an imbalance exists between our energy consumption and domestic energy production.
• The BLM will continue to work with our partners to create greater opportunities for the responsible development of energy resources on Federal lands.
• BLM continues to operate under Secretary Norton’s leadership and vision for managing the public resources – through communication, cooperation, and consultation in the service of conservation.

- BLM -