BLM should have closed this area to leasing because of its high wilderness values. Plenty of other land is open in the Vernal district.

Leave it alone. There's a lot of oil in Anwar. Where there's oil, there's natural gas. Better still, let's collectively get a brain and go nuclear.

Many of the oil companies and drilling outfits make extra effort and at extra expense, to make sure their drilling operations do as little as possible to impact the surrounding areas. This is our livelihood in the Uintah Basin, for many of us, and we work hard to produce a needed product while maintaining the integrity of the wilderness areas we work in. Every time you use something made of plastic, nylon, and many other similar materials, you can thank the oil industry for producing part of the raw materials needed for them. I believe we can have a workable balance between the products needed, and the methods of getting them, as well as the public's need for having areas for exploring, camping, and other wilderness activities. By drilling several wells from one pad, the impact will be much less than moving all that equipment each time a well needs to be drilled, thus causing even more roads to be graded to get to the locations. Fewer roads means less impact. Let's try to be balanced and reasonable.

"Balance Needed", why do I get the feeling that the balance you represent means that you get to drill wherever you want, mitigating the effects of course? The White River canyon area at stake here is less than 1% of the Vernal District. The BLM is currently conducting a blitzkrieg on the lands in eastern Utah; are there ANY areas that you would be willing to say are off-limits to drilling, due to other, also important resources? I doubt it. If so, let's here which ones you would be willing to forgo: Desolation Canyon? The White River? Labyrinth Canyon?
The BLM is no longer balanced OR reasonable. The Vernal District was made into a "pilot project" precisely to make energy production the primary concern, and all other resources (ranching, water quality, recreation) have been accorded a diminished status. This may change, or course, when the Bush Administration leaves the White House, but in the meantime, the BLM is giving away the farm recklessly.

As much as we all miss the good ole days with pristine vistas, clear air and quiet peaceful places, the reality is the world we find our selves in. China and India are becoming major oil consumers and we are constantly under the threat of oil black mail by tin horn dictators. Ultimately, we as a nation need to develop our own resouces or our love driving places and heating our homes may be jeoprody. It's already upon us, shortly now we will be driving around in those stupid looking tin can cars from Europe, because of the cost of gasoline. who knows what's in store for our future. If we don't get going on our own supplies, we will be paying far greater costs for OPEC allotted supplies of oil, as we haggle with the developing countries over availble supply..

Nothing will save you, Rick, from the future. We will run out of gasoline at some undetermined date in the future. The question is, how many other resources are you willing to sacrifice on the altar of Big Oil? Are there ANY places that you value enought that you will say, "This place is more important for [wildlife, water, recreation...etc]. The White River has limited amounts of natural gas for heating (not petroleum), yet it is also valued by thousands of people who go there to restore their spirit. I am one of them. The energy industry is destroying that experience, aided and abetted by the BLM. I want your kids to know that kind of experience, and I think in this case it is more important than a few thousand cubic feet of natural gas.