BLM mismanagement

[NateGeesaman]

New York Times explores the situation with Utah's BLM land and the drilling rights so freely given this year. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/u...nagements-divided-mission.html?pagewanted=all

 

[pixie1339]

It makes me sick reading articles like this. It all comes down to the almighty buck. Too bad money won't matter when all of our natural resources are used up.

 

[gnwatts]

This is old news. Sad and old. The BLM (Bureau of Lumber and Mining) has been up to this for years. I have donated my time and photographs to the Thompson Divide Coalition, a group opposed to gas drilling in a near roadless area outside of Carbondale, Co. The gas interests have even been offered cash (millions!) to let go of their lease rights, but no go. Last week SG Interests Ltd. announced it intends to go forward with drilling applications, the first step. Take a look at Google Earth, type in Rifle, Parachute or Battlement Mesa, and look at either side of I70. This is what the industry means when it says "we are only using a small % the leasable land" but they need roads to each drill site, with huge trucks carrying fuel and chemicals (fracking) the contents of which the industry refuses to share with us. Check out the web site

http://www.savethompsondivide.org

for info on our fight to save this land.
And it s not a political, or cultural battle. It is a battle against giant companies, with huge monetary resources, that want to profit off our environmental degradation. Our organization includes hippies, ranchers, ORV enthusiasts, hunters, bikers, rednecks, grandmothers, in other words a diverse coalition of citizens united against an industry that wants to profit from our loss. Very un-American if you ask me.

Fight the Man!
Greg

 

[uintafly]

And it s not a political, or cultural battle. It is a battle against giant companies, with huge monetary resources, that want to profit off our environmental degradation. Our organization includes hippies, ranchers, ORV enthusiasts, hunters, bikers, rednecks, grandmothers, in other words a diverse coalition of citizens united against an industry that wants to profit from our loss. Very un-American if you ask me.

Fight the Man!
Greg

Getting all of these different users on the same page is the only way these fights can be successful. I have been saying for a long time that hikers, backpackers, hunters, fisherman, RV'ers, OHV's, etc. all need to quit fighting amongst ourself and look at what is really threatening our public lands. While we all fight over dirtbikes the drilling industry is destroying the land we all love.

 

[Nurrgle]

I was passing through Rifle on my way home from a Utah visit last weekend and noticed how many rigs, tanks, and roads there were.

My prior job was with a frack pump manufacturer, I spent a lot of time at fracking sights and in good, old school oil country like Texas. People who think that oil and gas have no impact need to spend some time in West Texas, if you get a glass of water from the tap and set it down for a sec, the oil will separate and sheen up on the surface. Totally disgusting. I left that crappy industry for the renewables industry and now build wind turbines. Our turbines are built using 85% renewable energy, provide a huge amount of power generation over their 20 year lifespan and then can be 100% recycled. I travel to Europe two or three times a year for work and wind power is huge there.
Damn near every town in Germany has wind turbines generating power for its inhabitants.

The oil industry rapes the land and cares little about what was there before they got there or what will be there when they are done. The roads that are built destroy the area for years to come, the trash that is left by the rig workers and oil companies never gets cleaned up, and all of the equipment just adds to the problem. Then once they have sucked the ground dry, they bring in 20 or so frack pumps and fracture the earth to suck more out, contaminate the ground water, etc..

Sadly, from the crap I read on KSL and the people I have talked to, the majority of people who seem to care about preserving the beauty and mystic of Utah don’t live there. If the governor gets his way, most of southern Utah will have a big sign that says, Private, no entry.