BLM backs Nine Mile project

A controversial project to search for gas and oil reserves near Nine Mile Canyon and its famous rock art has been approved, the Bureau of Land Management announced Friday.

The decision made by the BLM's Price field office is expected to be challenged, said project manager Mark Mackiewicz. That could come through the agency's own appeals process or in federal court, he said.

The BLM office found that there will be "no significant impact" on the environment from the Bill Barrett Corp.'s Stone Cabin 3D geophysical exploration, including to the area's petroglyphs and other cultural resources.

The project was determined to be consistent with the BLM's multiple-use mandate, which calls for the accommodation of valid uses of public lands as well as the protection of their resources.

"We feel we've gone above and beyond in attempting to protect the cultural resources there," Mackiewicz said, noting that the company will pay for an on-site archaeologist as well as a technician to monitor the effect of the seismic testing.

However, last June, the BLM withdrew a plan to drill seven exploration gas wells in Nine Mile Canyon after preservationists complained that serious impacts could result to the ancient treasures in the area. The current proposal does not call for exploration in the canyon itself.

Drilling would "irrevocably change the natural and cultural setting," Ray T. Mathney, a professor in the department of anthropology at Brigham Young University, wrote in an editorial about last year's BLM proposal.

Preservationist groups, including Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, could not be reached for comment Friday night to comment on the new BLM project in Nine Mile Canyon.

No bulldozing or heavy equipment is to be used in the new project, and existing roads and trials are to be utilized as much as possible, according to the BLM. Also, helicopters are to be used to transport equipment and crews to many sites.

The BLM estimated that a maximum of 206 acres will be impacted over some 90 square miles. Much of the impact would come from driving buggy-mounted drills and support vehicles over 320 miles.

Nine Mile Canyon itself is actually much longer than the proposed exploration site and stretches from an area northeast of Wellington, Carbon County, to southwest of Myton, Duchesne County.