OCR Text |
Show Land Management Bureau Opens OB Urea To Oil Entry Authority of the Bureau of Land Management to issue oil and gas leases on lands in Uintah county reserved to Indians prior to March 11, 1948, was today clarified by Bureau of Land Management officials in the Colorado-Utah Regional office at Salt Lake. II. Byron Mock, regional administrator, ad-ministrator, stated that numerous numer-ous major and independent oil companies and individuals have inquired concerning availability for oil and gas lease of public lands in the area formerly withdrawn with-drawn for Indians, some sixty miles south of Vernal, Utah. The question arises due to action ac-tion of Congress in passing1 Public Pub-lic Law 440. March 11. 1948, fixing fix-ing boundaries of the Uintah and Ouray Reservations in Grand and Uintah counties. By Executive Execu-tive Order 5327 of April 15, 1930, all oublic lands in the vicinity vi-cinity had been withdrawn as an oil shale reservation. By Executive Execu-tive Orders of February 6, 1933, and May 13, 1935, the Interior Department opened certain of the withdrawn lands to oil and gas, and' sodium applications. Lands within the temporary Indian In-dian withdrawal were- not opened to entry at that time. By the Act of March 11. 1948, Congress extended the boundaries boundar-ies of the Uintah and Ouray reservation. res-ervation. The Secretary of the Interior was directed to lift the various outstanding withdrawals withdraw-als daling with temporary Indian In-dian lands. This was done on Julv 1, 1948. On that date most! of the lands placed by the Act within the Indian reservation became subject to oil and gas entry. The Indians receive only the surface rights since the oil shale withdrawal was prior in time to inclusion of these lands within the Indian reservation. The lands outside the reservation reser-vation boundaries, as established by the "Act of March 11, were also made subject to oil and cas entry by the July 1 order. The effective date for these lands to be entered was fixed as September Septem-ber 2. Valid existing rights and any other existing withdrawals were not susoended. The Utah Land and Survey office, of-fice, advised Mr. Mock, stated that all of this area within the reservation which was opened to entry by departmental order of July 1 appears to have been covered with oil and gas applications, applica-tions, most of which had been filed by September 15. 1943. These applications will be considered in the order of their filing and there is no apnarcnt need for holding a drawing because be-cause of conflicts by persons filing fil-ing simultaneously. Each case must be considered to determine its individual merits. |