A plan to auction off oil and gas leases to the east of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was deferred indefinitely on Tuesday/Bob Pahre file

An oil and gas lease sale to the east of Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado has been put off by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which wants to have more conversations with the Navajo nation about how the activity might impact their ancestral lands. 

The proposed drilling sites are less than a mile from the national park. Word this spring that the BLM planned to auction them for exploration raised concerns over light and air pollution, as well as ecosystem impacts, that energy development could generate for the park.

While the lease sites located on roughly 18,000 acres controlled by the BLM are east of the ridgeline of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the park's boundary goes to the top of that ridgeline, and so drilling could potentially be visible from the park. And since storm winds tend to move east to west, according to the National Park Service, there is concern that air pollution from lease operations could be blown into the park.

At the Sierra Club, Kimberly Pope applauded the announcement Tuesday, but cautioned that the leases could be auctioned at a later date.

“This is more than a win for public lands and parks; the deferment of the September lease sales in the Huerfano River Valley and near Great Sand Dunes National Park represents the importance of consulting directly-impacted communities in the face of dirty fuels extraction," she said. "Stopping the encroachment of dirty fuel development on Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness will not only preserve these great wild places, but the outdoor economy, wildlife, culture and community they support.

“We must continue to fulfill our obligation to leave great natural places for others to experience. This deferment is a great victory, but the fight isn’t over. We will continue our fight until lease sales are permanently halted. Sierra Club will work with local communities every step of the way in making sure corporate polluters don’t get their hands on the Huerfano River Valley and lands next to Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.”

Jerry Otero, the Southwest energy program manager for National Parks Conservation Association, said it was good to see that the BLM has "recognized the importance of including purposeful engagement and consultation with stakeholders when considering these lease sales across the Southwest. The BLM has rushed lease sales to auction without a material public process as required. Today’s action to seek legitimate engagement and consultation with the Navajo Nation is a welcome reversal and we hope it signals that the interests and insights from key stakeholders and the public matter."

As with the Sierra Club, NPCA recognized that the auction would be revived down the road, adding that, "the administration’s incoherent approach to energy development in this region is not smart or sustainable without consultation of native tribes and other community members. We are grateful that BLM has taken the Navajo Nation’s concerns seriously with the temporary delay and are optimistic that we can find common ground on this remarkable landscape.”

In their formal comments on the proposed leasing, NPCA staff said that drilling could diminish Great Sand Dunes' nearly pristine night skies, and generate industrial noise that would impact the natural soundscape.

"The NPS’ Natural Sounds Program has conducted acoustic monitoring in the park and found that Great Sand Dunes has one of the lowest levels of measurable ambient noise in the national park system," the group's scoping comments noted. "This natural quiet was partly the basis for a 2009 U.S. District Court decision preventing oil and gas drilling in the Baca Wildlife Preserve managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is adjacent to the park on the west side of the dune fields."