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Nine Miles Canyon, Utah, Petroglyphs Endangered
Nine Mile Canyon, Price, Utah, USA
Status in 2008: Extremely Endangered
Nine Mile Canyon, located in Eastern Utah roughly 120 miles South East of Salt Lake City, is far vaster than its name implies; the canyon is actually over 40 miles long. It is known for its large concentration of more than 10,000 petroglyphs made over a period of 8,000 years by the Fremont and Archaic cultures. Many Native Americans consider the site to be sacred and the Hopi have declared the site as a Traditional Cultural Property.
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The site is threatened by industrial traffic connected with drilling for gas wells on the West Tavaputs Plateau and by the installation of pipelines by Denver based Bill Barrett Corporation who was granted authorization to do so by the Bureau of Land Management in 2004. At that time, they were given permission to drill 38 wells on the Tavaputs Plateau, however, according to Pam Miller, Chair of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, www.ninemilecanyoncoaltion.org ; they actually drilled more than 42 wells under the 8. In March of 2008 there are around 120 wells on the Tavaputs Plateau. Drilling was done despite the fact that Nine Mile Canyon is protected by the Antiquities Act; it states that, “a person may not “appropriate”, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruins or dwellings or other structures.”
In 2004, the Trust for Historic Preservation added the site to its “America’s List of 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites.” Other organizations opposed to the project include: The Wilderness Society, The Sierra Club, The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Utah Rock Art Research Association, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition and many American Indian Tribes.
New Urgent Threat Spring 2008
The site remains extremely endangered in 2008 and we are launching an Urgent-Action Letter-Writing Campaign against the current plan for full-field development with at least 800 new gas wells, called the West Tavaputs Gas Project. If this goes through, it would signal the end of the canyon’s cultural sacred petroglyphs. Industrial truck traffic is already having a severe effect on the cultural sites. Thick dust settles on the rocks and coats the petroglyphs. Magnesium chloride, used as a dust suppressant, has become airborne and its corrosive presence on the rocks is eating through the surfaces.
An Environmental Impact Study for the full-field, 800 well development of the West Tavaputs Gas Project in the Stone Cabin and Peters Point gas fields. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was released in February of 2008. None of the alternatives in the WTEIS offer any measure of protection for the cultural resources on Nine Mile Canyon. Even if the “No Action” alternative will leave a badly damaged, dusty road that will continue to generate damaging dust from trucks rumbling through the canyon on their way to the West Tavaputs Plateau.
Please visit the Bureau of Land Management’s website for the complete EIS: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price/energy/Oil_Gas/Draft_EIS.html
If the plan is implemented, it will be the final blow to a site already badly endangered by dust and chemicals used on the roads that provide access to the wells. Despite the damage caused by the truck traffic and chemicals, the EIS does not include any alternate road access to the West Tavaputs Project. Alternate roads do exist!
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There is a dust-abatement requirement when the BLM grants right-away to companies like Bill Barrett and other drilled companies such as EnCana Corporation of Canada and Gasco Energy. However, a BLM-commissioned study of the problem points out the many problems with the access roads needed for the various drilling projects. Dirt approach roads for the 80,000 pound trucks that make trips to the drilling sites cause choking dust that can cake historic sites and obliterate precious rock paintings. One solution has been to frequently spray the roads with magnesium chloride, but it, too, sticks onto rock canyon faces and historic buildings. The chemical is so strong that it can eat through concrete. It also freezes at minus 1 degree Farenheit causing the rocks with petroglyphs to expand and crack. Please read an article on the current situation published in the Salt Lake City Tribune on February 16, 2008: www.sltrib.com/ci_8280063
Urgent Action Letter-Writing Campaign
Please send Urgent Letters before May 1, 288, against further drilling in the Stone Cabin and Peters Point areas of Nine Mile Canyon. For the full Environmental Impact Report: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price/energy/Oil_Gas/Draft_EIS.html
Make the following points in your letters:
Access Roads and heavy trucks traveling the roads will be extremely harmful to the cultural resources in these two areas, causing irreparable damage to the petroglyphs
Existing alternate access roads must be used and should have been included in the EIS. This is the only way the site can be preserved
Dust from truck traffic and chemicals used to abate the dust will cause irreparable damage to petroglyphs and historic buildings
The sites are considered sacred to the Ute, Hopi and other Indian tribes
For a complete discussion of the above points and more, please visit the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition’s website: www.ninemilecanyoncoalition.org.htm
Send Urgent Action Letters to the following before May 1, 2008:
Bureau of Land Management
Price Field Office
Attn: West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field Development Plan DEIS
125 South 600 West
Price, UT 84501
Send E-mail Comments to:
Additional Photos:
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Original Before and After of petroglyphs.
All Photos Courtesy of Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, www.ninemilecanyoncoaliton.org
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