These leases that were withdrawn were done so illegally.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51673

In the mountainous Green River Basin of the American West, running through Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, the American people own lands containing an estimated one trillion barrels of oil, more than triple the amount of Saudi Arabia’s proven oil reserves and far exceeding anything we could have dreamed a few decades ago

This incredible supply—made of up most of the world’s oil shale —should be a cause for national celebration, since it has the potential both to lower gasoline prices and to increase government revenues without raising taxes.

In 2008, this exciting energy story was just beginning to bear fruit, as the Bush administration issued 77 leases (after a seven-year environmental review process) for energy companies looking to develop the oil shale.

Then came President Barack Obama. Within weeks of his inauguration, the Obama Interior Department withdrew the leases.