Moab Master Leasing Plan

[Lighthawk]

If you have ever been to Moab or have it on your bucket list, this is a relevant issue, IMHO.
I'm forwarding comments and a call to action from Steve Bloch, Legal Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.


The deadline for public comment is next Monday, so please make your voice heard.
I registered my comments today.

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Tired of hearing about lease sales and drilling proposals in the heart of Utah's canyon country? Now is your chance to influence the planning process and keep new roads, oil rigs, waste pits, and pipelines out of Utah's most iconic redrock landscapes.

The BLM’s Canyon Country District Office is accepting public comments on the draft Moab Master Leasing Plan through Monday, Nov. 23rd. Once finalized, this plan will govern the scope, pace, and nature of oil, gas, and potash development on more than 750,000 acres of public lands in the stunning Moab area.

Tell the BLM to protect Moab's redrock country from oil, gas, and potash development.

While the draft MLP is a good first step to protect places like Fisher Towers, Porcupine Rim, and Goldbar Canyon from being overrun by the sight and sound of pump jacks and drill rigs, more work remains to be done.

Under the BLM’s current “preferred alternative,” Labyrinth Canyon and its many stunning side canyons would be targeted for leasing and drilling. The agency would also give potash development and its staggering water use the green light – with over 42,000 acres of public lands prioritized as “potash processing facility areas,” including sites near Labyrinth Canyon and at the entrance to the Needles and Anticline Overlook roads.

 

[Lighthawk]

Bump

 

[Captm]

Thanks for the heads up! We're camping in Moab for the next couple of weeks and we both will send our comments in.

Cheers

 

[Lighthawk]

Thanks Tim!
Have a great trip! Sounds like you are very mobile these days.

Anyone else want to make their comments heard by BLM about the future of Moab;
Now is the time! Deadline is Monday Nov 23.

 

[Kolockum]

Another bump. Here is my experience working near an oil town, this is what areas of Moab could turn into.

I used to work for the National Park Service in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park which is in the heart of the Bakken Oil field. Just north of us Watford City's population jumped from 1500 ish to 20,000. People were living in "Man Camps" which were lots filled with hundreds of what seemed like old FEMA campers. It seemed like the local deputies were just racing from one camp to another. The old roads were heavily congested with crude and water tankers and falling apart from use (the roads were never designed for such continued heavy loads). There seemed to be an oil fire once a month and a fatality crash at least once a week within 30 miles of the park, a very high number considering how rural the area is. A LOT of the locals who have lived here for generations have moved away. In the National Park we saw a huge increase of litter, graffiti, drunk driving and drugs.

Not a pretty picture.