Judge approves Utah oil and gas exploration
21-07-04
A federal judge in Washington refused to block oil and natural gas exploration on 57,500 acres of public and private land in eastern Utah.
A coalition of environmental groups called the Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance, made up of regional and national organizations, said the exploration
allowed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management would violate the
National Historic Preservation Act, among other federal laws.
The exploration includes the use of "vibrator buggies," each
weighing about 62,000 pounds, to send sound waves through the ground, as well as
explosives to create ground vibrations.
Though US District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the "area is rich with
significant cultural and archaeological resources," he ruled that BLM
persuasively argued it would not harm wilderness study areas or other important
sites. BLM's cultural resource surveys "derail plaintiffs' claim of certain
harm to these resources," he said.
Source: United Press International