This is urgent. As a goodbye gift to himself and oil companies, our current president has mandated that public land agencies "eliminate obstacles in the way of drilling," and this December 19 (only a few weeks away) the BLM is holding an auction to lease away some of Utah's most important land to the highest corporate oil bidder.
This isn't land out in the middle of nowhere that no one uses. This is land that many of us frequently spend our free time in and consider holy. It immediately borders Arches National Park (drills could be visible from Delicate Arch which is on the edge of the park border), encompasses River Road in Moab along the Colorado River (ever go bouldering at Big Bend, hiking in Negro Bill Canyon, or rafting on the Colorado Daily?), Nine Mile Canyon (has the longest petroglyph panel in the world, as well as an intense concentration of other Indian and settler culture and history), Desolation Canyon on the Green River (in the largest roadless area in the lower 48 states, imagine looking up the cliffs at Three Fords Rapid or Range Creek Ranch to see them drilling away), among other places.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is mounting an opposition to fight the pillaging of Utah's most sacred lands. Any monetary donations will greatly help, especially since there is a group that will match your donation up to $100,000. If you donate ten bucks, SUWA gets twenty. Fifty becomes one hundred, etc. You can donate and find out more at SUWA's site.
Click on this link to the SUWA website to write a letter to president-elect Obama urging him to reverse George "I Drink Oil Instead of Redbull" Bush's fire sale of our backyard to corporate oil.
This is an issue that directly and immediately affects us as Utahns and/or lovers of the outdoors. The unethical drilling so close to the Colorado River (what happens when there is a spill or leak?) needs to be prevented. The turning of Deso, one of the country's last true pieces of remote wilderness and whitewater, into a drilling field to further America's addiction to oil has to be stopped before it begins.
Please donate money, write letters, and become active in the fight against the Bush administration's and the BLM's attack on our Redrock Wilderness. Come to our protests, shoot me an email at hcone@backcountry.com to find out more.
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UPDATE--
The BLM has agreed to hold off on leasing on about 20 of over 90 of the land parcels to be sold off on Dec. 19. Moab's River Road parcels are included in that 20, however, Desolation and Nine Mile Canyons (in some ways the most important parcels to protect) will still be up for auction. Deso is sought after because of its shale oil deposits. Shale isn't drilled for like liquid oil, rather it is collected and processed out of stone. Imagine Salt Lake's Kennecott Copper Mine Pit (once a mountain, now a stripped hole visible from outer space), except spread out over vast acres of wilderness. It is a literal rape and pillage of our land.These people have no soul.
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