October 1, 2024 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLM Approvals Put Famed Southern Utah Redrock Landscapes in the Crosshairs of Industrial Development

Agency greenlights controversial drilling permits near the entrance to Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park; also allows Potash and Lithium mining near Labyrinth Canyon threatening Green and Colorado Rivers

Contacts:
Landon Newell, Staff Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (801) 428-3991 (landon@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; (grant@suwa.org)
Caitlyn Burford, Communications Manager, National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA); (541) 371-6452 (cburford@npca.org)

Salt Lake City, UT – Today, in two separate decisions, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) placed famed southern Utah redrock landscapes in the crosshairs of industrial development. The agency:

• re-approved two controversial drilling permits for lithium exploration near the entrance to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park, even though the Australian company (A1 Lithium) behind the project has previously conducted unauthorized activity on public lands in Utah.

• approved a Canadian company’s proposal to develop the Labyrinth Canyon region for potash and lithium. The exploratory project includes the construction of four new well pads and the drilling of four wells on the east side of the Labyrinth Canyon stretch of the Green River. 

 “Today’s decisions by the BLM completely fail to give this remarkable landscape the respect it deserves,” said Landon Newell, Staff Attorney with SUWA. “Rather than holding this bad actor (A1 Lithium) to account for their past unauthorized actions, BLM has instead given them the green light to proceed. Regarding Labyrinth Canyon, large-scale mining will permanently destroy this landscape and the over-stressed Colorado River cannot support new, speculative, water-intensive mining. SUWA intends to closely review these decisions and take all appropriate steps to protect this remarkable redrock landscape.”

 “For years, we’ve defended the landscape surrounding Canyonlands National Park from oil and gas development. Now, that same landscape and the water flowing into the park face new threats from industrial mining operations,” said Erika Pollard, campaign director for the Southwest region at the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). “The precarious proximity of this drilling near both Canyonlands and Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River is just the start. With over 20,000 mine claims near Utah’s national parks and monuments, we urge the Bureau of Land Management to engage the National Park Service early and often in siting decisions. Greater discretion should ensure development does not turn national park landscapes into industrial zones.” 

 “As a river runner, the main attraction to Utah’s Labyrinth Canyon is being taken into the spellbinding wild scenery on a healthy, vibrant river. The BLM’s decision to approve drilling permits adjacent to Dead Horse Point State Park, Goldbar Canyon, and the Labyrinth Canyon proposed wilderness areas unquestionably threatens this experience and the integrity of one of Utah’s most popular and beloved landscapes,” said Cody Perry, associate director of Living Rivers Colorado Riverkeeper. “These projects require millions of gallons of water from an already over-allocated Colorado River Basin. As with any major water project in the arid West, fundamental questions about water availability, equity, and sustaining ecosystems in the drier, more unpredictable hydrologic reality we are experiencing must be seriously scrutinized.” 

 Additional details about each project and resources can be found below. 

 About the permits to drill for lithium near the entrance to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park

 The lithium project—proposed by Australian-based Anson Resource’s subsidiary A1 Lithium Inc—is located on public lands directly off of State Route 313, which is designated by the State of Utah as Dead Horse Mesa Scenic Byway and serves as the main travel route to the parks. In 2022, the BLM first approved these same permits but that decision was successfully challenged by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). 

 With today’s decision, BLM approved A1 Lithium’s drilling permits even though the company has previously conducted unauthorized activity on these same public lands in Utah. As detailed by SUWA in a recent letter to the BLM, this illegal activity includes, but is not limited to:

• Commencing well pad blading and construction prior to having received the requisite state and federal approvals; and
• Continuing to engage in well pad construction after being expressly ordered by the BLM to halt all such activities.

Despite this unauthorized activity and a noncompliance order, BLM has now rewarded A1 Lithium with approved drilling permits that threaten one of Utah’s most popular and scenic landscapes. More than a million visitors per year travel the Dead Horse Mesa Scenic Byway to witness an iconic redrock landscape, not to see and hear the sights and sounds of industrial development. This map shows the locations where the A1 lithium wells would be visible within Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. 

In the past few years, A1 Lithium has staked more than 1,000 lithium claims in southeastern Utah. These claims encompass thousands of acres of intact and sensitive public lands, including lands immediately adjacent to Dead Horse Point State Park and within the popular Goldbar Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon proposed wilderness areas. A1 Lithium is a sister company to Blackstone Minerals (also an Anson Resources subsidiary) who earlier in 2024 experienced a “blowout” at a different lithium drill site at the edge of the Green River in southeastern Utah. Blackstone Minerals recently received permits to extract billions of gallons of water from the Green River for untested lithium extraction techniques.

Resources:

• Map
• Letter to BLM
• Photos of illegal pad construction
• April 19, 2023: SUWA’s Appeal Stymies Lithium Mining Project Near Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park

About the proposal to develop Utah’s iconic Labyrinth Canyon region for potash and lithium.

Well pads and test wells are the first step toward full-scale industrial development that the Canadian company—curiously named American Potash—hopes will culminate in staggeringly large evaporation ponds and industrial infrastructure in a previously undistributed and spectacular area. Three of the well pads are in areas proposed for wilderness designation in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act.

Exploratory drilling alone will consume millions of gallons of Colorado River water. The large-scale mineral development the company ultimately hopes to undertake would likely consume hundreds of millions of gallons per year of Colorado River water. A similar, active potash mine—the Intrepid Potash mine near Moab, Utah— uses 350 million gallons per year of river water according to the BLM. 

In 2023, the BLM took much-needed steps to protect the rugged, quiet, and stunningly scenic Labyrinth Canyon from off-road vehicle damage. Unfortunately, BLM’s latest, short-sighted decision—in the very same landscape—undoes that progress and will lead to new development, permanently scarring this remarkable landscape.

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.

Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.6 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.

Living Rivers Colorado Riverkeeper is a nonprofit based in Moab, UT that empowers a new ethic of achieving ecological restoration, balanced with meeting human needs. We work to restore inundated river canyons, wetlands and the Colorado RIver Delta, repeal antiquated laws which represent the river’s death sentence, reduce water and energy use and their impacts on the river; and recruit constituents to aid in reviving the Colorado River Basin. Learn more at www.livingrivers.org