Utah Groups to Bureau of Land Management: Halt Comment Periods and Major Decisions During Pandemic

Salt Lake City, UT— Ahead of Utah’s June and September Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease sales, Utah organizations called on BLM Acting State Director Anita Bilbao and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt to suspend public comment periods, rulemakings, and other actions as communities face the coronavirus crisis. In the letter, the groups noted that, given the current public health crisis, communities are focused on their immediate needs and health— making it difficult to meaningfully participate in the public input process. Read the full letter here.

In addition to the letter, representatives of organizations released the following statements:

“Already, the Trump administration has pushed to degrade some of Utah’s most cherished places. And now, while Utahns grapple with the constant uncertainty from the coronavirus pandemic, they continue to barrel as if nothing has changed. Our government’s priorities and resources should be completely focused on protecting and providing for people amid the coronavirus crisis.The Bureau of Land Management must immediately halt their sales and comment periods until the end of this pandemic,” said Carly Ferro, Director of the Sierra Club Utah Chapter.

“Utah is home to some of the most popular national parks in the country and public comment periods have been crucial in protecting these places from reckless oil and gas proposals. However in the middle of a national emergency, public comment periods clearly cannot take place sufficiently and must be postponed,” said Erika Pollard, Associate Director of the Southwest Region for National Parks Conservation Association. 

“It’s ludicrous to expect people to worry about submitting public comments when we’re in the midst of a pandemic,” said Ryan Beam, Public Lands Campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Utah’s BLM office is charging ahead with lease auctions and behaving like it’s business as usual. People need to focus on their health and their families, and they shouldn’t have to worry about fossil-fuel companies taking over public lands. The BLM should do the right thing and suspend public comment periods and other time-sensitive proposals.”

“While the public is rightfully focused on the Covid-19 crisis, the Trump administration is exploiting the public’s distraction to open up Utah’s most pristine wild lands to more oil and gas drilling, and to push through additional rules removing critical environmental protections from our public lands,” said Scott Groene, Executive Director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “Utah BLM should immediately suspend its oil and gas lease sales and comment periods to allow the American people to focus on their families’ health and livelihoods, rather than worrying about the Trump administration’s unrelenting assault on our public lands.”