Pertaining to the proposed February 2013 Lease Sale of 39 parcels, 51,693 acres, I believe there are questions that no one has asked the BLM. How did a parcel that overlaps Moab’s watershed make it to the nomination process? Had no one raised a red flag, and the watershed information had not been made public, would the BLM have pulled the parcel anyway?
What is the impact to systems necessary to support the fracking and extraction industry? Where would the required water for fracking come from? How would the numbers of trucks and mine supporting traffic increase? Who pays if private wells are contaminated? How will temporary oil industry workers be housed? What is the history of an increased illegal drug presence in other ‘oil drilling boom’ communities? These are real issues that need to be addressed PRIOR to lease sales by the city and county governments affected by the BLM’s actions.
The BLM stated that the skyrocketing ozone problem in the Uinta Basin is a “mystery”. If there is a new and serious air pollution problem in the region and it is a “mystery”, shouldn’t current lease sales be postponed until the industry gets a handle on what is causing this and other problems that are cropping up all over the country?
Carol Mayer
Moab
