National Park Service Objects to Federal Drill Plan in Utah
The National Park Service filed objections to federal plans for oil and gas drilling alongside Capitol Reef National Park, saying the rigs would spoil landscape views and bring machinery noise, dust and lights to a backcountry prized for its solitude.
Albert J. Hendricks, Capitol Reef’s superintendent, said the proposed drilling parcels -- a cluster of 18, with some touching the park’s northern boundary -- also would fall within view of a remote corner of the park awaiting wilderness designation.
Hendricks filed a three-page memo with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management recommending that no rigs be allowed on three drilling parcels that touch the park’s boundary. He took no position on the other 15 parcels, except to express misgivings and to point out that the region’s dirt roads could not support heavy trucks.
His objections surfaced as other groups -- including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and river outfitters that send rafters down the Green River -- filed challenges to some of the 440,000 acres the BLM plans to put up for lease Tuesday in the largest government auction ever held in Utah for oil and gas drilling.
The groups asked the BLM to pull five drilling parcels from a mesa overlooking Nine Mile Canyon, which has a string of ancient rock-art panels.
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