Why It's Important to Update the 1996 Mineral Leasing Plan

The Mineral Leasing Plan is 10 years old. It's time to take a look to see if there's new information or new issues concerning the division's public trust responsibilities and the mineral resources of the Great Salt Lake.
Joel Frandsen - State Forester and Director, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands

Lux desiderium universitatus (Light is the desire of the universe.)
- Ivan Doig, Whistling Season

Last year on November 23, 2005, FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake, National Audubon Society, Great Salt Lake Audubon and the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club filed a request for Agency Action on oil and gas leases that were publicly offered in the north arm of Great Salt Lake. The request was filed with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (the "Division").

The Division is the supervisory authority for the management of sovereign lands in Utah, which includes those of Great Salt Lake. And as stated in the 2000 Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan (the "2000 CMP"), the Division will work in concert with the Department of Natural Resources, to fulfill overarching management objectives "to protect and sustain the public trust resources and provide for reasonable beneficial uses of those resources, consistent with their long-term protection and conservation."

Our request for Agency Action was in response to a public notice that the Division released on November 2nd. Hydrocarbon leases on 52 tracts (each tract is 4 sq. miles) of sovereign lands in the bed of Great Salt Lake were available. The tracts comprised approximately 130,000 acres in the northwest portion of the Lake, west of Promontory Point. This area is also adjacent to Gunnison Island, a protected area and the nesting site of one of the three largest breeding colonies of American white pelicans in the Western North America. It is also home to the world renowned and ever popular Spiral Jetty.

Combined with earlier 2005 lease offerings in smaller increments, all told, almost 178,000 acres within 78 tracts of this fragile and complex hemispherically important ecosystem could be open for oil and gas exploration. Each lease good for 10 years.

Our concerns focused on a variety of issues that included wildlife and important habitat, water quality, navigation, seismic activity and the need to update and revise the 1996 Mineral Lease Plan before moving forward with such leases.

We argued that under its public trust responsibility, the Division was required to provide site specific analysis of the leases and involve the public in the process. We held that although the 2000 CMP identified areas of the lake where oil and gas exploration could occur, it did not address the potential impacts that could come from this development. Nor did it address impacts, as stated in the management plan, to "sensitive ecological interests" that exist in the north arm of Great Salt Lake, where "even minimum human presence has shown to disrupt the birds using the north arm to the point that they move off the [Gunnison] island to less productive habitat."

We raised concerns about seismic activities on Great Salt Lake where fault lines on the west side of Antelope Island, Fremont Island and Promontory were responsible for earthquakes in the 7.0 scale. Although this occurred 4,000 years ago, in geologic time, this is considered "recent "seismic activity. Studies that were begun in 1998 at the University of Utah Dept. of Geology and Geophysics by Dr. David Dinter, indicate that seismic activity in this area could be substantial and imminent .

We also requested that in addition to improving the communication mechanism between the Division, the public and the RDCC (Resource Development Coordinating Committee), which is charged with making final lease approvals, it was a good time to revisit the 1996 Mineral Leasing Plan.

Times have changed since 1996. There is more scientific data to consider about Great Salt Lake, such as the recent discoveries of high levels of methyl mercury in sediments and in wildlife. And perhaps, from a global perspective, it's time to reconsider where the greatest value of Great Salt Lake lies as a public trust resource. It is more valuable as a source of low grade asphaltium or as a precious hemispheric habitat?

Initially, the Division reasoned that the 2000 CMP guides the state in making decisions on behalf of the sovereign lands of Great Salt Lake. And that since the public was involved in the formulation of that planning document, there is no provision to include further public commenting opportunities as they proceed in determining the lease requests. Some leases had already been legally promised and that unless there is some infraction, there is really no opportunity for the public to appeal any of the decisions.

However, after a series of meetings and discussions between the Division, conservation cohorts, leasees, and respective legal resources, we reached an agreement. The agreement set forth terms and conditions that resulted in more than 116,000 acres of land eligible for lease to be held in abeyance from leasing ,while just over 55,000 acres of land could go forward with leasing. This means that the lion's share of suspended acreage will remain in abeyance until the 1996 Mineral Leasing Plan can be reconsidered and revised.

Additionally, in the future, an improved communication mechanism supported by the Division will help guarantee expanded public involvement in tracking and commenting on oil and gas leases that are publicly offered before they are approved.

And as usual, for those leases that are currently moving forward, the operator must seek approval from the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining for a permit. This approval would include site specific analysis of the operation and its impacts, as well as an opportunity for public involvement.

So Frandsen is right. On behalf of the public trust responsibilities, it's time to consider new information and new issues that will help the Division do their very best. And it's also time for all of us, who understand how precious Great Salt Lake is as a natural resource and as a refuge for millions of migratory birds, to do our best as stewards for its long term sustainability.

En muchas salinas,

Lynn de Freitas

"Extractive and consumptive uses of the lake do benefit the state's economy and will inevitably continue. But our economic interest in the Lake are no more important than those of the pelicans or the eagles or of the microbiological species at the bottom of the food web that helps to support them." -Robert W. Adler, Professor of Law, University of Utah.