Here we go again. The BLM’s Price field office is once again poised to put a large portion of the San Rafael Swell on the auction block for oil and gas leasing. Targeted landscapes include the Limestone Cliffs, Molen Reef, Mussentuchit (pronounced “musn’t-touch-it”) Badlands, Rock Canyon, and Upper Muddy Creek areas – all proposed for wilderness designation in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (view map). These lands, which hug the west side of the Swell, feature a kaleidoscope of colorful sandstone layers and exhibit nearly every type of geological strata found in the redrock country. They also provide for critical soil and watershed functions, exceptional recreational opportunities, and important scientific and educational study.
Please tell the BLM not to lease these treasured public lands for oil and gas development!
The places at risk are also rich in sensitive and irreplaceable cultural, archaeological, and paleontological resources, including extensive lithic scatters, pictographs, petroglyphs, and historic structures. Despite all this, however, the BLM is opening the door for industry to step in and permanently scar these landscapes, destroying their remarkable wilderness and cultural values.
SUWA successfully fought off proposed oil and gas leasing in these same areas during the Bush administration and will do so again with your help.
Please tell the BLM enough is enough! No more oil and gas leasing in the Swell!