Protesters affiliated with Wild Idaho Rising Tide, Idaho Residents Against Gas Exploration, and Muse Project, protested outside the Idaho Department of Lands. Over Oil and Gas Exploration leases issued for public lands within the State. Before heading inside the building, activists sang a song titled, "Do It Now" in relation to impacts on the environment within the area. A major concern cited by the activists was transparency in the auction process. The Public Lands being put up for auction, were within the Ada and Canyon County areas, according to documents obtained from the Department of Lands website;
"The leases were for approximately 6,071 acres in Canyon County; 3,281 acres in Ada County; 2,789 acres in Gem County; 2,563 acres in Payette County; 2,375 acres in Washington County; and 631 acres in Owyhee County."
Current Oil and Gas Exploration regulatory functions were created in 2013, as the IDL website states; "In 2013 the Governor and Idaho Legislature approved a bill to change the composition of the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from the same five members of Idaho's Land Board to five individuals appointed by the Governor and approved by the Senate." According to the website, the members of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission are listed in this fashion.
Chairman Chris Beck of Hayden Lake, representing water interests
Vice Chairman Margaret Chipman of Weiser, representing landowners with mineral rights
Sid Cellan of Soda Springs, representing landowners without mineral rights Jim Classen of Boise, representing geological interests
Ken Smith of Boise, representing oil and gas interests
An April 15th meeting of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission addressed issues related to costs of permits, and regulatory functions with members. The Land Board lists the Idaho State Executive Cabinet as members.
At the event, conflict had occurred between department staff, and activists, as the WIRT blog writes;
"When protesters filed into the building only minutes before the auction began, the receptionist insisted that they could not bring their posters or voices to the auction. One organizer asked to see the Idaho code that disallowed this practice, and the crowd soon occupied and packed the back of the conference room."
At the auction, protesters remained silent, as the Public Lands Auction related to Oil and Gas Leases occurred; Stipulations related to Environmental Impact were placed on lands within the Ada and Canyon County areas, according to the Idaho Department of Lands,
"Various other stipulations were put in place for all tracts auctioned, in order to protect the environment, surface owners (where split estate scenario was present), and other values".
Addressing assertions from Activists, Wild Idaho Rising Tide wrote a list of items they would like to see. Number one on the list was; "1. Idaho rules and laws should require IDL to broadly publicize any auction well in advance, disclosing maps of tracts proposed for oil and gas leases, including the latitude and longitude of each parcel." At the end of the Oil and Gas Lease auction, both WIRT and IRAGE made inquires as to when the records would be made available under the Idaho Public Records Act. Sources:
http://www.idl.idaho.gov/oil-gas/leasing/index.html
http://www.idl.idaho.gov/oil-gas/leasing/auctions/041714-april-tract-list-final.pdf
http://wildidahorisingtide.org/2014/04/17/idaho-gas-lease-auction-protest-petition-report/#more-5598
http://www.idl.idaho.gov/oil-gas/leasing/auctions/special-lease-stipulations-list-041714-auction.pdf
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/04/17/3139703/idaho-lands-auctions-oil-and-natural.html?sp=%2F99%2F101%2F
http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2014/04/17/groups-protest-private-mineral-rights-auction
http://www.idl.idaho.gov/news-media/2014-releases/4-23-2014_update_idaho-leases-thousands-more-acres-oil-gas-development.pdf
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