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Show 'WXwl'XvX-w.v.y.w- ,' THE CANYON COUNTRY WATCHDOG Wilderness Alliance Scott Groeoe. Jennie Lupton 6 Kevin Walker of the Southern By Uth -Boulder, Utah, on the boundary of the new Grand Staircase Escalante national Monument, wrote a letter to BLM stating the Alliance believes there should be "no additional paved roads within the monument" Utah Association of Counties Caught With Pants Down: Utah Association of Counties associate director Mark Walsh recently announced UAC would attack SUWA on a regular basis, as part of a media campaign. This seemed extreme, even for the factually challenged UAC, so we contacted the organization and discovered Walsh's plans had not been authorized. The head of UAC said he was "very upset over Walsh's antics. Then Walsh announced that UAC had sued President Clinton on the new monument on behalf of all Utah counties. Turns out Walsh was wrong again, as several counties, including Salt Lake, did not support the litigation (unfortunately for Moab residents. Grand County council members did cough up your tax money for the lawsuit). SUWA recently requested, under Utah's open government law, that UAC provide information regarding expenditures of public money for political activities against wilderness. UAC refused, claiming it need not tell the public how it spends public dollars. Please call your commissioner or council representative, and urge theme to refuse to fund UAC, unless there is some institutional guarantee the organization's funding will not be misused for Walsh's campaign. anti-wildern- SUWA and Emery County Agree: Both the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Emery County oppose two gypsum mines which would be located in the San Rafael Swell, overlapping with congressionally proposed wilderness. Emery County is concerned the mines would provide little economic benefit to the county, while threatening scenic and recreational values. BLM is trying to approve the mines based on a minimal environmental assessment, rather than the required full EIS. For more information, contact the Moab BLM, 259-611- 1. BLM Finally Ready to Control ORVa? A few years ago, BLM convened a local planning group to consider controlling vehicle abuse in the San Rafeal Swell The advisory group reached no decisions (demonstrating again why these advisory teams are a waste of time) and so it appeared BLM would not be able to duck responsibility for preparing an ORV plan. However, the agency went into a stall, and two years later still has not released a plan, while the Swell continues to get beat up by ATV use. The good news is BLM employees recently told the Salt Lake Tribune the long delayed plan would soon be released. off-ro- ad Conoco Lies, and Drills in the Monument: On June 6, Conoco, an oil company owned by Dupont, sent heavy equipment into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to drill on a small section of land owned by the State of Utah (a photo of the drill site can be found at httpwww.suwa.org). The work violates Conoco's promise to environmental organizations to delay drilling to allow for discussion of a potential exchange of Conoco's leases out of the monument. Conoco is constructing its first well on Utah state land, apparently to sidestep the environmental review and public involvement process required for drilling on national lands. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the national monument, is currently considering five additional Conoco wells to be located on federal land. There is a common sense solution to the problem. The BLM should place the leases on which Conoco seeks to drill under suspension, pending completion of an ongoing comprehensive management plan for the monument. In the interim, the Department of the Interior should work towards an equitable exchange of Conoco's federal and state leases out of the monument. Conoco should recognize the overwhelming public interest at stake, and enter gpod faith negotiations. BLM Incapable of Managing the Monument BLM could stop Conoco from turning the monument into an oil field sacrifice zone by denying permission to drill on federal land in the monument. But it won't. It is clear the BLM lacks the spine to stand up to the oil company. The BLM previously told media representatives that oil drilling in national monuments is "not unprecedented. BLM's statement is false. This is the only national monument the BLM manages, as typically the National Park Service controls these areas. NPS has managed dozens of monuments across the country over the past decades, and never once has it allowed oil drilling on federally owned land. BLM gets a single monument to manage and within one year it crumbles before the oil industry. Please ask Gore to stop Conoco by leaving a message with the White House comment line during business hours (EST) at (202) once connected press zero to connect to an operator. Please also send a letter to the Vice President Albert Gore 8 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.G 20500 Please also call Dupont, the multinational mammoth which owns Conoco, and tell them you object to drilling in the monument, and to Conoco's deceptions. Dupont President John Krol: (800) Vice-Preside- nt 456-111- 1; 441-751- 5. Order A Conoco Credit Card. You could also order a Conoco credit card by calling and then cut it in half and mail the pieces back to Dupont with an explanation that drilling in the monument is wrong. Its fun, its easy, its free. State Geologist Goes Political Utah State Geologist Lee Allison recently made statements which lead us to hope his stratigraphy is more accurate than his political commentary. Allison argued in the Deseret News that oil development and the new national monument are simpatico because the National Park Service already allows this activity in other Park units. To support this wacky claim, he stated there are 584 active oil and gas wells in national park units. What Allison failed to mention is all of those wells are on land. The Park Service could not stop these wells, regardless of the environmental damage caused. Where the National Park Service does control the land, it has never allowed oil drilling in a national monument. Allison also argues that the administration "intended for oil drilling and production to be an acceptable use" in the new monument Actually, President Clinton specifically closed the area to future oil and gas leasing. non-feder- al Kaiparowits Coal Not Worth Billions, No Matter What die Gov. Says. The United States recently released a report which is the first to consider market factors controlling coal production from the Kaiparowits Plateau. The report concludes that Kaiparowits coal on the average is not the super compliance low sulphur coal commonly claimed, but rather "significantly" higher in sulphur content, and lower in BTU quality, than coal found elsewhere in Utah. It also found the Kaiparowits would continue to be uneconomical to mine in the foreseeable future. Utah Politicians Cry Wolf Over The National Monument On June 23, the Utah Trust Land Administration (TLA) filed litigation against the creation of the new national monument, contending the monument hurt funding for Utah's education system. The claim is ludicrous. At statehood, Utah was granted four sections out of each township for the support of our education system. The parcels are scattered throughout the townships and as a result are extremely difficult to manage for revenue. The TLA, the administrator of these lands, generates little money from these acres: the direct contribution from the 3.8 million acres of this trust land across the State of Utah generated less than one half of one percent of Utah's total education budget in 1996. There are approximately 176 thousand acres of Utah trust lands located within the monument, parcels that have generated little income for our education system over the past century. Creation of the monument placed no legal prohibition on the development of state lands. The limiting factor is the economic feasibility of developing these scattered parcels in the first place, not the monument designation. On the bright side, the monument designation may give us the political impetus to trade the state parcels for federal lands elsewhere in Utah which could generate revenue for education. The state lands threaten the wilderness, wildlife, and archeology the monument was established to protect, as it is possible a few of the state sections may be developed for commercial purposes while the bulk remain in a natural state. It is in the best interest of the school trust and the monument that these lands be exchanged for federal revenues or lands located elsewhere. If TLA succeeds in its law suit (a result no one seriously expects), the monument would no longer exist, and TLA would hold 176 thousand acres of scattered lands without water or road access-- just as it does now. The only change would be the elimination of both the monument and the political impetus to trade these low value state parcels for more manageable blocks of land elsewhere. So why is TLA wasting money on a shaky lawsuit with no apparent benefit for education, when the agency has a legal duty to maximize revenues for Utah's education system? Probably for the same reason TLA does not advocate for higher grazing, oil, or mining rental rates on state lands. Under Utah law, the nominations for TLA's board of directors are determined in part by the livestock industry, the Utah Petroleum Association, and the Utah Mining Association. Given the board's composition, it should comes as no surprise the organization expends money on a lawsuit to open the new monument to oil drilling, rather than on our school kids. Some education interests apparently are afraid to demand fair industry compensation for the use of state lands, or to oppose use of education money on frivolous law suits, because they fear retaliation by state legislative funding committees whose members are beholden to extractive interests that do business on state and federal lands. Instead, education lobbyists chose the least politically controversial action, that is, play along with the pipe dream that state lands might some day of play a significant role in the funding education. The irony is this: even if the TLA was able to suddenly generate large revenues and by strip mining, chaining, drilling all state lands, the Utah state legislature would for the increase by reducing general education funding. The oil, mining, and compensate livestock industries would profit, Utah schools would receive no additional funding, and Utah's children left with an environmental mess. ile Scott Groene is a lawyer and director of paper clips and trash removal for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Titanium Mining in the Monument? 3 R Minerals sent a letter to the BLM demanding that it be allowed to build a road into the Carcass Canyon Wilderness Study Area, within the new monument, for access to titanium claims. Garfield County is also threatening to build a road to the area for the mining company, asserting claims under RS 2477. To get on the mailing list for the project, contact the BLM, PO 225, Escalante, Ut, 84726, (801)8264291. Dixie National Forest Plans Roadless Area Plunder The U.S. National Forest Service has taken great pains in recent years to change its image from a gang of reckless forest hackers to an environmentally sensitive agency, concerned with protecting and A voice of reason: preserving our natural resources. Forest Service Chief Mike a Dombeck of Business revealed Alliance, the Boulder motels, restaurants, and outfitters from The group agency's newfound commitment to the environment in public EIGHT' |
