The Bureau of Land Management is offering over 350,000 new acres of land in Utah for leasing by oil and gas companies.
This is the fire sale, the Bush administration's last great gift to the oil and gas industry," said Stephen Bloch, a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
"The tracts of land offered here, next to Arches National Park or above Desolation Canyon, these are the crown jewels of America's lands that the BLM is offering to the highest bidder," he said.
An examination of the parcels, superimposing low-resolution government graphics onto Google Earth maps, shows that in one case drilling parcels bordering Arches National Park are just 1.3 miles from Delicate Arch.
"If you're standing at Delicate Arch, like thousands of people do every year, and you're looking through the arch, you could see drill pads on the hillside behind it. That's how ridiculous this proposed lease sale is," said Franklin Seal, a spokesman for the environmental group Wildland CPR.
This news was a surprise to the National Parks Service, but the head of BLM in Utah said notifying them was not required by law. The sale is scheduled for Dec. 19. Write your representatives now.
1 comment:
Grrrrr. Afraid they can't totally destroy every square inch of this (formerly lovely) land before they're escorted out of office?
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