by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director
Amid the collapse of the oil and gas markets and a worsening global pandemic, it seems like a good time to drill for oil and gas near Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Bears Ears, right?
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) thinks so. This September, the agency plans to auction off over 114,000 acres of public lands (an area two-and-a-half times the size of Washington, D.C) for oil and gas leasing on the doorstep of Bears Ears National Monument and southern Utah’s beloved national parks.
Wait, you may be thinking, the Trump administration is proposing more drilling when the oil industry is tanking? Well, yes.
Amid the global pandemic, consumer demand for oil and gas around the world has plunged. As many work from home and cancel travel plans by car, air, and rail, fuel prices have fallen to levels not seen in years. A few weeks ago, the price of oil went negative, and traders actually had to pay storage facilities to take the fossil fuel off their hands. Oil and gas producers are shutting down production at oil wells across the country, and oil and gas companies are filing for bankruptcy in stunning numbers. New drilling has collapsed too, hitting record lows for eight straight weeks in May and June.
These gloomy prospects may lead you to conclude that this is not a great time to expand drilling on public lands, but the Bureau of Land Management didn’t get the memo. In the face of the oil market’s rout, the BLM is proposing a bonanza of oil and gas leasing this September and Bears Ears, Canyonlands, Arches, and Capitol Reef could be among the casualties.
Some of the places on the auction block include lands ringing the Sevier River Valley at the base of the Pavant and Monroe mountain ranges; along Quitchupah Creek near the San Rafael Swell; north of Cathedral Valley near Capitol Reef National Park; Labyrinth Canyon along the Green River, including near Trin Alcove and Bowknot Bend; Tenmile Canyon and the Blue Hills west of Arches National Park; the Island in the Sky region near Dead Horse Point State Park and along Canyonlands National Park’s northern border, including Hell Roaring and Mineral canyons; Kane Springs Canyon and Flat Iron Mesa near Moab, and Hatch Point near Bears Ears National Monument above Indian Creek.
To see exactly where the oil and gas leases planned for sale in September lie, check out this interactive map ›
Public lands drilling accounts for nearly a quarter of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions and the Colorado Plateau is set to be ground zero for the climate crisis. If we are to escape the most severe impacts of climate change, transitioning away from oil and gas is more urgent now than ever before. To add insult to injury, leasing here and now is just unnecessary. At the close of 2019, oil and gas companies were sitting on nearly 10,000 unused approved drilling permits and holding 13 million acres of leases on public lands that they’re not using.
At a time when energy companies are pleading for (and receiving) government subsidies on their public lands leases by avoiding royalty payments to taxpayers, offering them more land for lease now is like leading a compulsive gambler to the blackjack table.
On October 8, 2021, President Biden restored full protections to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Send a personal note of thanks to President Biden.
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