From Deseret News archives:
Canyon oversight questioned
Drilling dust could harm Nine Mile art, group says
The federal government's attention and response to a petition to make the area a National Historic District has been largely ignored, and even the EPA letter itself is yet another example of federal oversight that is lacking at best, said Pam Miller, chairwoman of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition.
"It makes me cautiously optimistic that there is some recognition that the original impact statement was severely flawed," Miller said, noting that the coalition does not oppose the gas development or drilling in the area. "What we're opposed is not knowing exactly what effect all this is having and not having any serious discussion of alternative truck routes."
What the federal Bureau of Land Management has pronounced "the greatest concentration of rock art sites" in the country is also a source of oil and gas. Several dozen wells had been drilled there since the 1950s. Six years ago, Denver-based Bill Barret Corp. paid about $8 million for leases on 47,000 acres around the West Tavaputs Plateau. The area now has 100 to 110 active natural gas wells by the BLM's estimate, and the agency is proposing to allow roughly 700 to 800 more to be drilled over eight years.
Traffic along the narrow gravel road through the canyon would increase from about 107 vehicles per day now to a maximum of 441 per day during peak development, which would probably last two to three years, according to BLM estimates.
Bill Barrett estimates the full-field development project would yield 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas during more than 30 years of drilling. The yield is equivalent to about 17 days of supply at today's national consumption level.
Recent comments
We are stuck with oil and gas until something better is developed....
Jack Johnston | June 5, 2008 at 8:54 p.m.
Science isn't the only reason to preserve these images.
So what? | June 2, 2008 at 8:34 p.m.
It would be different if these panels were written in reformed...
People of a lesser god. | June 2, 2008 at 6:48 p.m.
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