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Show DOE Issues Permit For Park Drilling The National Park Service has issued a special permit to the department of Energy to allow the drilling of four exploratory bores into tar sands deposits in the extreme northern panhandle area of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah. To lessen the prospect of environmental damage, the test bores will be drilled from existing pads that were used some years ago in oil well exploration, before the area became a part of the National Park System. Lorraine Mintzmyer, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, said the drilling activity will take place this spring at specific sites along an existing dirt road that extends southward from the Hans Flat ranger station in an area known as the Orange Cliffs. The drill sites will be within one mile of the park boundary and nearly 10 miles from the Colorado River. Legislation authorizing Glen Canyon NRA provided for some forms of minerals exploration and development in appropriate areas of the park. The test program is sponsored by the Department of Energy for its Energy Technology Center at Laramie, Wyoming. Its purpose is to provide data on the geologic stratification of tar sands deposits. The data will then be made available to future prospective lessees for exploration and possible development of tar sands as an energy resource. The test bores" Vill be about 4 inches in diameter, drilled to depths to about 1,740 feet. The core drilling will be performed under con' tract by Earth Engineering and Evaluation Company of Laramie, Wyoming. The National Park Service prepared an environmental assessment of the project last year and made it available for public review and comment. |