Joining and speaking with the ministers was Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who also asserted that thwarting exploration and drilling has a direct tie to state and school revenue streams already being choked off by hard economic times.

Noticeably absent were local advocates for the poor, several of whom said support for cheaper natural gas prices through drilling for the sake of low-income people is at best tangential and more likely reprehensible behavior to those trying to survive being poor in Utah and the United States.

Glenn Bailey, executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center, said pretending that handing out more oil and gas leases in Utah will affect prices is the opposite of helping the poor.

Utah as a whole supplies very little of the nation's oil and gas, and the leases at issue here would provide only a fraction of that, Bailey said, noting that the federal Energy Information Administration reports that the state has about 2.5 percent of the nation's known natural gas supply and only 1 percent of the nation's known oil supply.

According to an analysis completed by The Wilderness Society, the natural gas and oil beneath the 80 leases challenged by conservation groups would provide enough oil for the nation for less than two hours and natural gas for the nation for less than two days.

"Drilling and destroying Utah's most special places, including famed Nine Mile Canyon, which is sacred to the Hopi people, wouldn't put a dent in utility bills anywhere but would destroy one of Utah's most unique natural and cultural wonders," Bailey said.

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com