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Show jrrr PAGE 24 THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1991 ri the canyon country Book Cliffs Road watch dog 70 Coors and Bighorn Won't Butt Heads (AFTERALL) i . On June 28, 1991, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, aaalatod by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, took the BLM Moab District to federal court over the agency's decision to allow drilling In Little Canyon. After a hearing, with arguments from the BLM's and Coors1 lawyers, Federal Judge Thomas Green found that there was a substantial likelihood that the Moab District violated federal law when It approved Coors Energy's (yes, that Coors) proposal to upgrade and reconstruct the Gemini Bridges road and drill for oil and gas In Little Canyon. Based on that finding the Judge stopped all work by Coors until a trial was to bo held on July 29. But, on July 9th, the BLM backed out of the trial and reversed its decision. The National Park Service and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources had both stated that the BLM's decision on Coors could not be supported by the Information available, in tact, the Bureau's own staff's work showed the project would have significant Impacts on the last healthy native desert bighorn sheep herd which uses the area. SUWA did not challenge the staff work on the project, rather the management's decision to approve the project, a decision which ignored the staffs work. The BLM estimated in 1988 that there were 1,500 desert bighorn sheep on Utah BLM lands. That number dropped to 800 in 1990. The work would have made the Gemini Bridges road suitable for two wheel drive cars, leading to greater recreational pressures on the bighorns and displacing mountain bikers to areas currently less utilized. The BLM claims It reached an agreement with Grand County commissioners to return the road to its original condition after drilling, but there are several problems with this assertion. First, there was never any consideration as to how after "ripping" the slickrock, as the EA put it, the area could be reclaimed. Second, the road would be reclaimed only if Coors did not find oil. Third, either the BLM or the County could break the agreement without reason, and the agreement was legally The BLM's public relations people in Salt Lake City issued press releases denying that the agency pulled out because it would lose at trial. Instead the PR people claimed that the BLM had changed its position because the environmental assessment (EA) prepared for the Coors work was good only until August 15th and that the July 29th trial date would push Coors work beyond that date. These claims are certainly creative, but Ignore that the BLM had not required Coors to finish work by August 15, and in fact under the BLM's approval Coors could have performed the work at anytime. Further, the EA states the work would take at least 52 days. If there had been any problems, as there have been on both the ongoing ColumbiaExxon drilling neer Dead Horse Point and the Meridian drilling on Hatch Point, the work would have taken place well past August 15. The BLM has publicly called on Channel 6 news for a "support contingency" to BLM back the management's efforts to push for oil and gas development The oil and Is gas industry quite adept and well funded to act on its own as a "support contingency" for oil and gas development without the BLMs assistance. The BLM's role is to allocate the public lands for multiple uses, including fish and wildlife, watershed, natural scenic, scientific and historical values. Not to serve as cheerleader for the oil and gas Industry over all other values. Chevron, Coors, ColumbiaExxon, and the other companies with leases in the area can afford to provide their own public relations campaigns here in Moab and elsewhere. Columbia, for example, has had staff doing public relations work in Moab for months. The BLM has also tried to rustle up support by claiming on Channel 6 that the project would have raised money for school books. This claim Is interesting, for the BLM did not consider in the Coors EA the potential environmental damage caused by oil production in Little Canyon because it was not "reasonably foreseeable" that the Coors well would have lead to oil production. The environmental Impacts of all "reasonably foreseeable" actions on a project must by federal law be analyzed. It Is not really important whether the BLM gracefully admits it was wrong. What Is Important Is that you can still sleep peacefully under the stars in Little Canyon. There will be no bulldozers ripping through the slickrock to improve the road, no drill rig whining a hole Into the ground, no waste pits, no generator driven lights slung over the rig, no heavy truck traffic. Just quiet and maybe the sight of a bighorn. Sometimes the system does work. non-bindin- r i i if : I s ) t ' g. The BLM Book C8fh Resource Area Just released an environmental analysis of the impacts of building the Book Cliffs road from Vernal to through the Winter Ridge and Flume Canyon Wilderness Study Areas (WSA). WSAs are areas the BLM found to be suitable for wilderness designation and la required to protect as such until the ILS. Congress passes a wilderness MIL A road cant be built through the WSAs without new federal legislation, but Representative Orton has said he will try to remove the WSA protections from these Important wildlife habitat areas. Uintah County politicians are pushing for the road In hopes of siphoning Moab tourists to Vernal. Uintah County would like to also use Grand County money to help build the road. August 14 Is the deadline for public comments on the proposal, which ahoukl be sent to: Byron K. Tolman, Team Leader Bureau of Land Management Vernal District Office 170 South 500 East Vernal, Utah 84078 Bob Gibson Couldn't Have Kept Up With These Guys. Can you believe the baseball seaaon Is more than half over? But the best shutout records going this summer can be found right here In Utah at the BLM Moab district office. Nobody in the majors can touch the BLM's shutout record, at least whan It comes to keeping the public out of decision making. Not even Nolan Ryan. According to the BLM's July 1, 1991, public notice 1st, the BLM Moab District will allow public comment on 9 of 58 actions currently proposed for BLM land. That Is, the public will be shutout on about 85 percent of the stuff going on the public's land (It should be noted the BLM's shutout rate has dropped since May, when the notice 1st showed that the public was shutout on over 88 of the BLM's proposals. Sports experts suggest the drop may be due to the heet). Among the propoeale you won't be commenting on this summer are livestock watering tanks Masted into the slickrock, campground developments, boat ramp construction, seismic lines Inside areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs which the BLM designated), oil wells, pesticide spraying, power line construction, water line construction, more oil wells, more seismic lines, more livestock reservoirs, and road construction. The BLM's San Juan Resource Area (which covers San Juan County) will be providing the least opportunity for public involvement of all the resource areas In the Moab District during this month. The agency's July 1st public notice list states that the puMic will be allowed to comment on 2 of 29 actions In the Resource Area for a 93 shutout rate. 5 Oily Stuff Columbia Gas Development Corporation Is the corporation credited with successfully drilling the horizontal oil and gas wen near the Knoll (known as Columbia which touched off a great deal of Interest In further drilling In these parts. According to an oil trade magazine, ColumMa now controls over 45,000 acres In Grand County was Exxon. along with Ha partners. CokimMa's partner on the removed When ColumbiaExxon the drill rig on the well the corporations burled approximately 200 barrels of wet diesel based drilling mud on the site, in violation of their operating permit, and without notifying the BLM. 7) 1-- 27 1-- 27 L i i ; t THIS MONTH IN HISTORY 1680 The Pueblo revolt led by the Hopi overthrew the Spanish tyrants in New Mexico and Arizona. 1964 The Forrest Service killed the oldest living Pine) thing on Earth (a 4900 year old Bristle-con- e BOOKSTORE 83 North Main St. Moab, Ut 84532 J t , 259-515- l . 4 |