www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-04-08-voa45.c -
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Published on: 4/8/2009
Last Visited: 4/8/2009
Steve Bloch is director of the Utah office of the Wilderness Alliance, an environmental group.
"This is Nine Mile Canyon, and the area we are most interested in is over here, where there is no development right now," he explains, pointing to a map.
"Each of these orange squares is a proposed new well location.
They don't exist on the ground right now."
Steve Bloch says the land the government wants to auction for oil and gas exploration is located very close to national parks
Steve Bloch says the land the government wants to auction for oil and gas exploration is located very close to national parks
He claims the estimated reserves of oil and gas in the region are insignificant.
And yet, he says, the government was ready to sacrifice some of the most spectacular views of its national parks.
"There is no dispute that the lands at issue in this area are outside of the national parks, but they were literally, in some cases, right across the fence," he says.