Drilling in San Rafael Swell

[Jaxx]

Do they put out maps of the areas they are leasing? Any more info on this?

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56758841-78/wilderness-blm-areas-lands.html.csp
"The Bureau of Land Management intends to lease thousands of acres in the San Rafael Swell (http://www.sanrafaelswell.org/indexnew.html) for oil and gas development, including many areas it has concluded hold wilderness and recreational values, such as Eagle Canyon and the area near the Cleveland-Lloyd (http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/site.cfm?Site=CLLL-UT) Dinosaur Quarry. At its Nov. 19 auction (http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/oil_and_gas_lease.html) in Salt Lake City, the agency will sell leases to 82 parcels covering nearly 144,000 acres in Emery, Carbon and Uintah counties.



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While Emery County officials see much to praise in the leases, wilderness advocates say the sale indicates Utah BLM is headed in "the wrong direction" in how it decides which public lands to open up to energy development.
Dozens of the parcels overlay lands proposed for protection under America

[DiscGo]

I don't like this at all. Stay out of the Swell!

[Udink]

Here's the statewide map:

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ut/lands_and_minerals/oil_and_gas/november_2013.Par.4547.File.dat/Statewide%20Sale%20Map.pdf

Scroll down on this page to the "November 19, 2013 Lease Sale Information" section to see more specific maps:

http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/oil_and_gas_lease.html


Just for fun, I made a quick and dirty transparent overlay for Google Earth that shows roughly where the leases (in red) are located.

http://udink.org/geo/temp/sr_lease.kmz

The transparency only works in Google Earth, but here's an embedded Google Map where you can toggle the overlay to see what's underneath.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fudink.org%2Fgeo%2Ftemp%2Fsr_leas e.kmz&hl=en&sll=39.60063,-110.806334&sspn=0.076582,0.169086&t=h&z=8

[rockgremlin]

I don't like this at all. Stay out of the Swell!Yeah! Go drill around Vernal. :fitz:

[Bootboy]

While I think that there are thousands of acres in the swell that could be utilized for gas and oil, this a also an indication that much of our wilderness is undervalued and takes a back seat to the almighty dollar in the eyes of lawmakers and special interests.

[rockgremlin]

If only the raw materials we need to sustain our lavish lifestyles could come only from the ugliest plots of land. I guess that's why we're OK to exploit oil reserves anywhere in the Middle East but Alaska and The Swell is off limits.

[nelsonccc]

Nobody likes drilling for gas or oil, especially not in there backyard. Yet we continue to drive our SUV's, build bigger houses, eat fast food, and whatever else we want. The resources have to come from somewhere and as long as there is a demand there will be those trying to provide for it.