Coalition Challenges Massive Public Lands Fracking in Utah

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Approves Nearly 6,000 New Oil and Gas Wells in Greater Dinosaur Region, Will Produce More Climate Pollution Than 17 Coal-fired Power Plants

Vernal, UT—A coalition of public health and environmental groups today appealed an Obama Administration decision to open up more than 100,000 acres of public lands in northeast Utah for fracking, a move that threatens to unleash as much carbon pollution as 17 coal-fired power plants.

“The Bureau of Land Management is opening up our public lands for fracking and creating a climate disaster in the process,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “It’s time for our federal government to get out of bed with the oil and gas industry and start putting our future first.”

The Monument Butte oil and gas project would allow Newfield Exploration Corp., a major U.S. oil and gas company, to drill 5,750 new oil and gas wells across 119,000 acres of publicly owned lands in the Greater Dinosaur region of northeastern Utah, an area surrounding the iconic Dinosaur National Monument. 

The drilling and fracking would turn an area larger than the City of Denver into a complete oil and gas industrial sacrifice zone. 

The Bureau of Land Management’s own analysis shows that the drilling and fracking will lead to the release of more than 60 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually, as much as 17 coal-fired power plants.  This amount of carbon pollution is enough to melt 70 square miles of Arctic sea ice every year.

The groups’ appeal comes as smog levels in the region have exceeded those in Los Angeles and other big cities. Studies have linked smog in the region to unchecked oil and gas development, which produces more than 98% of all smog-forming emissions. 

Pipeline leaks, tank venting, engines, and drilling and fracking activities all contribute to the region’s air pollution problem.  Even the State of Utah has recommended that the region be declared a dirty air area because of unchecked smog.

Bending to the demands of the oil and gas industry, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the Monument Butte project, even though it would fuel more air and climate pollution.

The coalition today appealing includes WildEarth Guardians, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Utah Native Plant Society, Canyon Country Rising Tide, Elders Rising, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Living Rivers, Green River Action Project, and Wasatch Rising Tide.

“We can’t possibly protect our clean air and our climate if we keep giving the fossil fuel industry a free pass to destroy our public lands,” said Nichols.  “We’re drawing a line, we simply can’t afford to allow our public lands to be sacrificed to the oil and gas industry.”

Photos of the Monument Butte project area can be viewed here >>


 

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