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Amelia Ekstein

Opal Wecker

English 2010

26 September 2011

Oil & Gas Development

It’s a beautiful sight when nature goes undisturbed. The surroundings are untouched by

human hands and it feels as if you are the only one who has stepped foot on these grounds. Then

there are those other places where the earth has been rearranged and the life that once existed in

the grounds are now being drilled into. Oil and Gas developments are invading the lands that

were once promised protection. There

are several areas where these

productions could take place, but are

instead pushing their way into the

scenery that was once gazed upon.

Oil and Gas development studies

show that Utah’s red rock wilderness

“holds less than four weeks of natural

gas and only one week of oil supplies

for the nation” (Steve Bloch), yet

development by the oil and gas

industries remains a constant threat. Oil

and gas development is harmful to the lands and is found in nature’s backyard. Not only is water

and air quality an issue but is an invasion of Mother Nature’s property. The supply of oil and gas

© James W. P Kay

PDF file

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that comes from red rock’s wilderness provides fuel that is relied upon but in return devastates

the land.

On one side of the issue of oil and gas development, it’s said that; First, industries don’t

have access to enough public land in Utah; Second, that in Utah, oil and gas companies don’t

have enough permits on hand to drill new wells; Third, conservation groups in Utah have filed

countless lawsuits to block oil and gas drilling; and Fourth developing the lands proposed for

wilderness in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act will produce meaningful amounts of oil and

gas. Of these four statements, there are ways that can turn the view to favor them. Instead, the

following will prove them to be pure fiction.

At the end of the financial year of 2009, while the industry held nearly 5 million acres of

oil and gas leases on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Utah, less than 1.1

million acres of those leased lands were

actually in production. Currently, more than

three-quarters of Utah’s BLM lands are

available for oil and gas leasing. In this

instance, this information gives a whole

variety of public land to the industries.

Also, from January 1, 2001 through

December 31, 2010, the Utah Division of

Oil, Gas and Mining approved a total of

12,393 permits from industries to drill new

oil and gas wells in Utah. As of December

Acres Leased, 4,995,479

Acres in Production 1,092,640

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000 Acres Leased Vs. Acres in Production

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31, 2010, only 7,874 of those approved permits have been drilled. That is a difference of 4,519

that have not been drilled. As for the oil and gas companies that say they don’t have enough

permits to drill new wells, they better take another look at these numbers (refer to graph on

previous page).

As for the third topic of concern, which is that conservation groups in Utah have filed

countless lawsuits to block oil and gas drilling, we find that between January 1, 2001 and

December 31, 2010, when oil companies were issued 12,393 permits to drill wells, the Southern

Utah Wilderness Alliance challenged only a handful of these drilling projects. Legal challenges

are clearly not a barrier to oil and gas development.

As for the fourth statement, according to British Petroleum’s 2009 Statistical Review of

World Energy, “the United States has approximately 2.4% of the world’s proved oil reserves and

3.6% of the world’s proved natural gas

reserves”. According to the federal

government’s Energy Information

Administration, of those national proven

reserves the state of Utah holds

approximately 1.2% of the nation’s

proved oil and 2.7% of the nation’s

proved natural gas. A similarly small percentage of oil and gas is predicted to exist beneath the

lands proposed for wilderness designation in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (ARRWA). A

study recently completed by researchers at The Wilderness Society came to the conclusion that

the technically recoverable undiscovered resources below the lands in ARRWA amount to less

than 4 weeks of natural gas and 1 week of oil. Because “technically recoverable” figures do not

Photo by LizThomas/

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take into account the cost of recovering the resource, these figures significantly overestimate the

volume of resources that may be economically recoverable. Regardless, the desolation to Utah’s

stunning Red Rock wilderness necessary to recover such trivial amounts of oil and gas is

unacceptable.

Oil and Gas Development has been a heated subject across many parts of the United

States, specifically in Alaska. Unlike Alaska however, Southern Utah does not have a vast

supply of oil. “About one-third of Alaska's oil and gas revenues come from its royalty slice of

production by private companies on state lands and waters” (Larry Persily). Scientists agree that

there is only enough oil to

provide around 6 days of supplies

for the U.S. and roughly 23 days

of natural gas. That is simply just

not enough to argue that it would

be beneficial to drill in Red Rock

country. The landscapes would be

vastly harmed by any type of

drilling in the area. Unnecessary

roads would open to construction crews, new or old archaeological sites may become corrupted

and human impact would degrade the land making it more vulnerable to climate changes.

A balanced approach is necessary in protecting Utah’s special places and promoting

energy efficiency and conservation. Under the Bush administration, there were several

challenges and repeated attempts to sell new oil and gas leases so that new wells could be drilled

“Gooseneck Overlook” ©Ray

Mathis

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on wilderness-quality lands across the state. For present days, the Obama administration is

needed to bring back to the public balance and land management.

Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary, has noted,

“It is not a question of whether there should be any leasing and development on public lands. Such activity- if compliance with federal, state and local laws intended to protect public health and the environment- may be appropriate in certain areas. But destruction of Utah’s Red Rock wilderness for a trivial amount of oil and gas (predicted to be at less than 4 weeks of natural gas and one week of oil) simply makes no sense” (http://www.suwa.org/about-suwa/).

In order to keep the balance and keep the Red Rock wilderness safe from oil and gas

development there must be a higher authority and individuals on its side. In this case, I propose

to assist SUWA in any way I can. I believe we can gain the attention of authority figures and

other individuals by sending letters to congress and spreading the word of support by sending

postcards for people to sign. This will provide the help and support they need to stop the oil and

gas development by helping our government understand what we want as Americans. I plan to

educate myself about more of their other programs and volunteer in any way I can.

In the program, “Asking your members of congress to support protecting the red rock”, it

informs high authority figures about oil and gas development impact on the Red Rock’s land. It

also allows the list of cosponsors for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act to grow in the 112th

<http://www.sierraclub.org/

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Congress. Currently, lead sponsors Senator Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Hinchey (D- NY)

are joined by 82 cosponsors in the house and 10 in the senate. There have been some new

members added to the co-sponsorship of the bill since the start of this program. It provides the

opportunity to let other members of congress know the public’s thoughts and feelings towards

this issue and hopefully persuade them to join. In this case, we propose to spread the word about

“Asking your members of congress to support protecting the red rock” and email all those that

have been following the cause on the website and Facebook to take a closer look and participate.

When gaining the attention of individuals for support, another program that SUWA is

running is to collect 10,000 postcards for Greater Canyonlands. The purpose of this program is to

demonstrate that people from Utah and other regions across the country want to see better

conservation in the Greater Canyonlands and Red Rock lands. To this day there have been

“thousands of signed postcards from eager American citizens that want to see the wild places we

have to offer and see the Obama administration protect this stunning landscape”

(www.facebook.com/SouthernUtahWildernessAlliance ). Conserving these lands means that oil

and gas development should be structured away from the significant regions and focused on the

already approved lands they settled with. In the near future, we will be gaining the attention of

the public and hand out postcards so that the goal of 10,000 postcards can be reached.

We will be setting up a small booth and handing out these postcards to help SUWA reach

their goal. The booth will contain a backdrop of the stunning landscapes that need protection and

draw attention to what our purpose is. The more information that we provide, the more the

support will grow. This effort that will be put forth might seem small but in the long run, will

make an impact for our future landscapes.

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As far as Mother Nature’s backyard goes, no one would like for holes to be dug on their

land. The oil and gas supplies for the nation that comes from the Red Rock lands and

Canyonlands is not worth the threat it creates to the wilderness. The uncharted scenery that was

once a protected land is now being invaded by these productions. Each program that supports the

extended protection means one step closer to keeping the sceneries that are gazed upon each day.

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Works Cited

Bloch, Steve. “Fact Sheet.” The Facts About Oil and Gas Development on Utah’s Public Lands

(2011). PDF file.

Hoium, Travis. “More Opposition for Oil and Gas Drillers.” The Matley Fool 13 Sept. 2011.

Internet.

Persily, Larry. “Oil and Gas Development: Does Norway Do a Better Job Than Alaska?” Alaska

Dispatch 09 Sept. 2011. Internet.

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Protecting Utah’s Red rock Country”. Web. 03 September

2011. http://www.suwa.org/about-suwa/.

"Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance - Non-Profit Organization - Salt Lake City - Causes |

Facebook." Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More. Web. 13 Sept. 2011.

<http://www.facebook.com/SouthernUtahWildernessAlliance?sk=app_2318966938#!/So

uthernUtahWildernessAlliance?sk=app_7146470109>.

"Utah Wilderness." Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet. Web. 27

Sept. 2011. <http://www.sierraclub.org/utahwilderness/>.