Re: DNM in danger from oil/gas exploration?

[Dan Chure <danchure@easilink.com>]

The quick answer is that after meetings between BLM and NPS higher 
officials the parcels slated for drilling immediately adjacent to DINO 
have been pulled and will not be offered this go-round.  There were no 
parcels offered inside the Monument boundaries, but several abutted 
Dinosaur.  No fossils within Dinosaur were threatened, although some of 
the parcels had significant fossils on the surface that might well have 
been damaged.  The parcels could be offered again in the future.

Monument concerns about the drilling involved visual intrusion, sound 
pollution, impacts on air quality, and visitor experience, impacts on 
ungulate migrations routes, etc.  For example, sound testing at Dinosaur 
has shown that it is one of the quietest units in the NPS and that 
silence is an important experience for those who come here. The network 
of new roads put in would make for easier access to our more remote 
boundaries and the concomitant threat of increased poaching of wild 
life, fossil rustling, etc.  And once these roads are in, they don't go 
away after drilling ceases.  We have experienced those impacts from 
similar development in the past.

Dan

Joe wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I got an email from the group at care2.com concerning a petition to 
> prevent opening federal land in Utah to oil and gas exploration.
>
> Here's a quote from a page 
> (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/192320016) on their site:
>
> "Without consulting the National Park Service, the BLM has opened 
> thousands of acres for lease to oil and gas development near or 
> directly adjacent to Arches, Canyonlands National Parks and Dinosaur 
> National Monument."
>
> Can anyone on the list, especially anyone familiar with that area, 
> provide details on how much, if any, danger this poses to Dinosaur 
> National Monument?
>
>  Thanks,
>
>  Joe
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com 
> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.18/1852 - Release Date: 12/16/2008 6:11 PM
>
>