In its last months, the Bush administration is attempting to complete a longstanding agenda for oil and gas drilling in southern and eastern Utah. Resource Management Plans (RMPs) for six regions were finalized in October, including the Price RMP, which includes Nine Mile Canyon. Nine Mile Canyon, the location of treasured rock art and places sacred to the Ute and the Hopi, is to be surrounded by vastly increased drilling on its upper rims and adjacent canyons. Drilling around Nine Mile Canyon stirs up dust and vibrations that threaten the rock art, as well as potentially disturbing undocumented archaeological sites.

Overall, the Price RMP chooses the second most environmentally degrading option (out of six options), selects only 10% of “wilderness character” lands to protect, and allows even these areas to be accessed via slanted drilling (which avoids only the surface). The new RMPs determine the treatment of Utah wilderness lands for the next two decades, allowing environmental and cultural damage that may not be reversible. Once pipelines cross the land, air quality is diminished, and roads have been constructed, industry can argue more easily for further drilling because the lands will have lost their “wilderness” criteria. All six RMPs were released in quick succession with only a month-long protest period before the Secretary of the Interior made them official policy.

The Bureau of Land Management also announced on election day that it would conduct a major sale of drilling leases for these same lands, including parcels surrounding Nine Mile Canyon, on December 19. The BLM has largely acted on its own in selecting the parcels; it made superficial efforts at consultation with the National Park Service and environmental groups, but ultimately proceeded with drilling as its top priority. Once these parcels are sold, the Obama administration will have to choose between two difficult alternatives if it wishes to reverse course: either buying back the leases or trying to legally nullify them. The latter option will be more difficult because of the adoption of the RMPs.

For more information, see the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s information page on the RMPs and its November 26, 2008 press release on the lease sales.

See also the following newspaper articles and editorials:

“U.S. Moves Ahead on Oil, Gas Leases on Public Land” The Washington Post November 29, 2008

“Last-Minute Mischief” The New York Times October 18, 2008

“Drill, drill, drill: BLM plan for Carbon, Emery counties goes for the gas” Salt Lake Tribune September 8, 2008