Trucks working on existing developments drive through Nine Mile Canyon, and some fans of the canyon's rock art sites are concerned about damage to the ancient panels.

Diane Orr, a Salt Lake City photographer and member of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, said development in Nine Mile Canyon has impacted the petroglyphs. On a recent trip, she found trucks traveling through all day long.

"The dust is really coating the petroglyphs," she said. Some can no longer be seen because of the dust on them, Orr added.

Altogether the Barrett Corp. shifted a road alignment to avoid the famous Hunter panel of petroglyphs, the action moved the route closer to others. One of these, the Fremont Ladder panel, is covered with dust, she said.

Orr believes pipeline digging contributes dust that can get on the ancient art. "So now we've two corridors" that can cause problems, the road and the pipeline, she said.

"What amazed me is, even panels fairly high up (on cliff walls) have an incredible amount of dust on them."

Other features associated with gas development include roads and compressor stations, Orr said. One set of production facilities near the entrance to a publicly owned canyon looks like "a small industrial city," she said. The gate there can be locked, even though the canyon beyond is public, she said.

Orr said a possibility discussed earlier — accessing the plateau country by way of a road from Sunnyside, Carbon County — might have fewer impacts on the art than going through Nine Mile Canyon.

The new development would be larger than any other project in the region, said O'Ferrall. Asked if it would require driving trucks through Nine Mile Canyon in order to reach the West Tavaputs Plateau, he said, "I think there is more than one way to get in there."

Zavadil said if the public is concerned about traffic in Nine Mile Canyon, "perhaps we could come up with . . . (an) alternative access." That could mean environmental impacts from building a new road, he said.

Before development happens, Zavadil said, there will be a public process to address concerns.

Asked about possible impacts, O'Ferrall said, "That's what the entire process is for . . . to identify impacts and analyze the extent of them, and of course to provide mitigation where feasible."

The environmental impact statement will cover all the affected resources, he said, including rock art, archaeological sites and paleontological remains.

The BLM will look at ways to protect sites and assess transportation, soils, visual resources, recreation, threatened and endangered species and other resources, he said.