Interior Secretary Ken Salazar turned back the clock yesterday on the hotly debated lease of 130,000 acres in Utah for oil and gas development.

The Deseret News reported that Salazar decided to give back the $6 million the Bureau of Land Management made on the deal because the land is too close to "American iconic treasures," including Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon. He said that the sale "did not pass the smell test in terms of the environmental review process."

In its reporting on the drilling issue, the Washington Post mentioned that Salazar is also now reviewing pending leases for oil shale development in valuable wilderness areas in Colorado and Wyoming. The House Natural Resources Committee also holds its first hearings on offshore drilling next week. Stay tuned.

- H.H.