Lawmakers to support more Tavaputs drilling

State lawmakers decided Wednesday to follow through on their plan hatched in September to send a letter to regulators in support of a proposal to significantly increase the amount of natural gas drilling on the Tavaputs Plateau above Nine Mile Canyon.

The letter in support of a proposal from the Bill Barrett Corporation is being sent to Bureau of Land Management state director Selma Sierra. Members of the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee were presented a draft version by the group's chairmen Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, and Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab.

"The Tavaputs project has the potential to provide Utah's natural gas consumers with up to 60 percent of the state's annual consumption for the next 15 years and a significant amount for many years thereafter," the letter reads.

But the proposal to drill 800 wells on the plateau has been met with fierce opposition from critics who say the increased truck traffic through Nine Mile Canyon will harm untold amounts of Indian rock art panels. Watchdogs like the Utah-based Nine Mile Canyon Coalition also say the added industrial activity will cause environmental and air quality concerns in the canyon that spans parts of Emery and Duchesne counties.

— Stephen Speckman