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What's Next: Dead Horse Point State Point
Links
Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance: www.suwa.org
Key Locations
Lockhart Basin, where
towering red and purpose sandstone cliffs draw climbers from around
the world, provide a remote home for bighorn sheep, and serve ad a dramatic
backdrop for the entrance to Canyonlands National Park. Here, the Department
of Interior has approved oil wells and leased thousands of acres to
oil companies for future development
Hatch Point, where
old forests of juniper and pinyon trees top the plateaus overlooking
Canyonlands National Park, Lockhart Basin, and to the east, the snowcapped
La Sal Mountains. Remnants of ancient cultures can be found here, left
thousands of years ago by the ancestors of the Hopi and Navajo. The
Department of Interior has leased thousands of acres to oil companies
here, and intends to lease more.
Dome Plateau, just
east of Arches National Park, and rich in wildlife like desert bighorn
sheep, eagles and cougar, this landscape is characterized by undulating
petrified sand dunes and spire-like sandstone towers. The Department
of Interior is set to approved oil exploration work involving enormous
"vibroseis" trucks traveling cross-country in a proposed wilderness
area.
The Goldbar Rim, entryway
to Deadhorse Point State Park made famous in movies like "Mission
Impossible." Here, a breathtaking panorama sweeps from horizon
to horizon, full of sandstone arches, soaring rock walls, and pristine
wildlife habitat for all kinds of desert species. In late 2001, the
Department of Interior authorized vibroseis oil exploration that left
large patches of desert scarred by deep tracks and mutilated vegetation.
For more information, contact:
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The Bush Attack on American Wilderness
The Bush Administration and
its backers in multi-national oil and gas conglomerates are planning
to violate the unspoiled special places of America's Redrock Wilderness,
9 million acres of spectacular canyons, plateaus, and forests in southern
Utah. President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, both former heads of
oil companies and major energy investors, have made the destruction
of wilderness for the benefit of multinational oil companies the first
priority of the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies.
According to the Wilderness Society, the government's own figures show
that the maximum amount of drilling in the Redrock Wilderness and a
number of national monuments would provide enough oil to meet only 15
days of US demand.
A Timeline
2000
Candidate Bush is the top recipient of money from the oil and gas
industry during the 2000 election campaign. To date Bush has received
over $3.2 million in campaign contributions from the industry
January 2001
Big Oil gets a significant return on its investment when oil and
gas executives are invited to meet secretly with Vice-President Cheney
to help develop the Administration's Energy Plan. Members of the American
Petroleum Institute, an industry lobbying body, are appointed to important
jobs in the new administration. Bush appoints oil company lobbyists
as deputy secretary of the interior and top energy cop at the justice
department. Notes Newsweek, "The two [appointees], in effect, will
help administer policies they helped to write."
March 20, 2001
A draft of the Administration's energy development proposals recommends
a "review of wilderness study areas where there is administrative
authority to change BLM's planning decisions to examine their potential
for energy development and potential release." In other words,
the administration has directed the BLM to remove wilderness protections
on its lands whenever there is potential for oil and gas exploration.
May 2001
Bush and Cheney issue an executive order to all federal agencies
to 'expedite oil-related projects.' Cheney's energy task force, composed
mostly of oil lobbyists and executives, orders federal agencies to find
'impediments' to oil production and 'modify those where opportunities
exist.'
December 12 2001
Interior Department orders BLM personnel to justify any decision
that might have an 'adverse impact on energy development, supply, and/or
distribution.'
January 4 2002
A memo to Utah BLM staff makes it clear that energy production is
now the top priority for the Bureau. "Utah needs to ensure that
existing staff understand that when an application for permission to
drill comes in the door, that this work is their number 1 priority."
This order ensures that BLM officials will operate as virtual employees
of the oil industry.
January 31 2002
Bush's assistant secretary for fossil fuels at the department of
Energy tells an audience in Charleston that "the biggest challenge
is going to be how to use taxpayer dollars to the benefit of industry."
(Charleston gazette).
March 2002
President Bush said his administration would look at "all public
lands" for energy development. Bush emphasized that his policy
will lead to a "wiser use" of the nation's natural resources.
"There's a mentality that says you can't explore and protect land,"
he said. "We're going to change that attitude. You can explore
and protect land." (Denver Post)
September 2001
The BLM authorizes oil exploration at the Goldbar Rim, entryway
to Deadhorse Point State Park and famous for its appearance in in movies
like "Mission Impossible." Goldbar Rim offers breathtaking
views of soaring rock walls, sandstone arches, and contains untouched
wilderness habitat for many endangered desert species. The exploration
is conducted by 26-ton trucks which pound the earth to detect underground
oil. The trucks destroy ancient stands of juniper, tear the soil with
their huge treads, and cut 176 miles of new road through the wilderness.
What's next:
Dead Horse Point State Park:
Intrepid Oil and Gas plan to drill two wells within Dead Horse Point
State Park, one right next to the visitor's center, where 250,000 visitors
come each year. Aviara Energy has permits to drill on 23,000 acres between
Dead Horse and Arches National Park, ensuring that visitors to the park
will see oil wells nearly wherever they hike, as well as inflicting
hundreds of miles of new roads on a currently pristine area. BLM lands
around Canyonlands National Park are also slated to open for exploration.
These developments, which will provide only a small amount of oil, would
permanently damage some of America's best-loved and best-known landscapes
with a maze of wells, waste pits, pipelines, power lines, and thousands
of miles of roads. Oil development also carries the risk of permanent
contamination of soil and groundwater with oil spills.
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