Federal judge says lawsuit challenging withdrawal of oil, gas leases filed too late

Judge says drilling lease lawsuit too late

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit brought by energy producers challenging the cancellation of 77 oil and gas drilling leases was filed too late.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson ruled Wednesday the companies failed to file their lawsuit within 90 days of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s February 2009 decision to cancel much of the lease sale held in the final month of President George W. Bush’s administration.

Benson wrote that Salazar exceeded his authority by withdrawing the leases, but ultimately ruled in his favor because the companies missed their deadline.

“The plain language of the Mineral Leasing Act mandates the Secretary of Interior to accept bids and issue leases as part of the competitive leasing process for oil and gas leases,” Benson wrote. “Ultimately though, the plaintiff’s claims are time barred.”

Salazar has said he voided the leases because they were at the doorstep to Utah’s redrock parks — Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument.

He also faulted the Bureau of Land Management for failing to consult the National Park Service before leasing the lands, and he questioned whether an environmental analysis justifying the sale was adequate.

Salazar’s attorneys argued those reasons were good enough for him to scrap the 77 leases. Benson disagreed.

The auction on Dec. 19, 2008, was troubled from the start. A Utah college student grabbed a bidder’s paddle to run up prices and take parcels between Arches and Canyonlands national parks for safekeeping.

Tim DeChristopher, who acknowledged he didn’t have $1.7 million to pay for his leases, has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of interfering with and making false representations at a government auction. He has said he disrupted the auction as an act of civil disobedience to focus attention on climate change.