OCR Text |
Show Criteria changed WASHINGTON -Valid existing mineral leases issued before Oct. 21, 1976, on land administered ad-ministered by the Bureau of Land Management will no longer be subject to wilderness impairment criteria, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The change in wilderness policy resulted from a decision not to appeal a portion of a Nov. 7, 1980, U. S. District Court decision. Judge Edwing T. Kerr's decision in Cheyenne, Wyoming, upheld the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association's challenge to the Department's interpretation in-terpretation of wilder ness provisions (Section 603) of the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). The aspect of the court's decision that has been conceded by the department relates to mineral and oil and gas leases issued on or before Oct. 21, 1976. |