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Show F canyon. The pita in this canyon have rights stamped all over diem. National Fuels held a gas lease in Demaree Canyon for six years before FLPMA was passed. Sixteen other oil and gas leases predating 1976 also exist in the canyon. National Fuels is also seeking permission from BLM to drill another gas well in Demaree Canyon, but that project isn't within the WSA boundary, and will do far less environmental damage, said Dave Trapped; oil and gas specialist for BLM in Grand Junction. BLM officials said they had no choice but to approve a permit to drill the wells in the wilderness area because die gas lease predates both FLPMA and a 1985 BLM management plan that would block the project National Fuels would have appealed and won had BLM refused to grant this application, Robertson said. Attorneys who appealed the project said BLM has the discretion to deny projects that are as damaging as this one and let Congress make the decision about the best use of Demaree . pre-existi- Demaree is one of only two possible wilderness areas in the Boolcdiffs in Colorado, a unique region of sandstone cliffs and stark rock faces in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. FLPMA made Demaree and Little Bookcliffs wilderness study areas that BLM was to consider for inclusion in the federal wilderness system. BLM didn't recommend either area as wilderness because of the energy resources and leases there. CEC and 47 other groups indude both Demaree and Little Bookcliffs in a Colorado wilderness proposal published in 1994. In it, they recommend just over one million acres of Colorado BLM lands be protected as wilderness. BLM recommended 388,000 acres as wilderness in a review conducted in the 1970's and 1980's. BLM's recommendations were turned over to Congress in 1992, where they await action. pre-FLPM- A coo Canyon. The language of the lease National Fuels holds gives BLM the right to control the pace EenpOlter'1' mWMSmvw I No one hires a madman wielding a butcher knife to guard their prize pig and yet the federal government spends roughly $36 million a year on a program which, like the madman, has the overwhelming, indiscriminate desire to kill Biological ramifications of the Animal Damage Control the near extinction of the (ADC) program are severe and wolf, the grisly and other "nuisance species are testimony to this fact. Wildlife Damage Review is protecting native wildlife and ecosystems by working to dismantle this outof-contrprogram. For more information: long-lastin- g: ol (DOJDILir Site of the future road into Demaree Canyon of development, argued Robert Wiygul, lawyer with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Wiygul appealed the project on behalf of CEC. Robertson said controlling the pace of development doesn't mean stopping it Wiygul unsuccessfully argued that BLM should have considered whether National Fuels is legally entitled to more development on a lease that already has one gas well that has been operating for 20 years. BLM didn't gather enough information to consider whether refusing to issue a drilling permit would cause National Fuels a severe economic hardship, Wiygul charged. National Fuels didn't supply information about how much profit would be realized from die project, or what percentage of the company's total profits that amount would represent Wiygul also unsuccessfully argued that BLM should have done a Environmental Impact Statement on the project rather than the briefer Environmental Assessment Hie study that was done outlined severe erosion damage and kiss of character as impacts of the project The same study concluded wilderness and vegetation that the project would cause no significant environmental impact Trapped and Robertson said on a lease this old, the leaseholder has only to find the least damaging alternative possible to be within the law. The lease grants the holder the right to damage the land. T personally don't think it's a good thing, but there's nothing else we can do and grant the lessee that right," to develop the 1970 lease, Trapped said. full-blow- Barbara Green, National Fuels' attorney, said her client is spending thousands of dollars to find the least environmentally damaging way to drill the wells. Demaree is dramatic for its isolation. A hiker can explore the recesses of die narrow, 21,050-acrcanyon region without seeing a footprint or candy bar wrapper. Its of missteps. and are unforgiving steep slopes National Riels wants to blast ledges into the canyon walls and build a road through 4,000 feet of die bottom of it to access the gas drill site. The canyon is important winter range for elk and deer, according to BLM documents. Bear, mountain 1km and bald eagles have also been sighted. BLM's environmental assessment says the project would "severely impair die area's nihirilnwM and outstanding opportunities for solitude. 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