The BLM should have allowed for more than 10 days for the public to comment on a proposal to open areas near Carlsbad Caverns National Park to energy development, according to NPCA/NPS

A ten-day window given by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the public to comment on plans to lease nearly 200 parcels near Carlsbad Caverns National Park for energy development is too short, maintains the National Parks Conservation Association.

"A miniscule 10-day comment period does not provide any realistic opportunity to examine such impacts or for community members and stakeholders to meaningfully weigh in," Ernie Atencio, New Mexico program manager for NCPCA, said Friday. "The unique and world class underground chambers were why Carlsbad Caverns was first protected as a national park site in the 1920s and why we will continue to fight to defend this special place.

"The BLM must seriously weigh the many non-drilling uses of shared landscapes, including the protection of the ecological, cultural, geological, recreational and scenic attributes near Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks that are critical to supporting the immediate and long-term integrity of these special places," he said.

According to the park advocacy group, the BLM is considering for lease lands up to within one mile of the park's boundary, and many within sight of Carlsbad Caverns, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Research is still being conducted on the network of caves both inside and outside the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns and the potential impacts that oil and gas development may have on the intricate and delicate systems," the group said. "This massive lease sale by the BLM adds to a growing list of leases occurring near national parks, which since the start of 2017 has included parcels auctioned Dinosaur National Monument and Great Sand Dunes National Park, and considered near Zion National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Hovenweep National Monument, and others."

“Oil and gas development and national parks can coexist when the federal government works with communities to avoid conflicts – but this has not been the case under the Trump administration," said Mr. Atencio. "This lease sale highlights a missed opportunity for the BLM to undertake an inclusive energy planning process to achieve the goals for the parks and the industry.”