FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: David Garbett, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801.428.3992

SUWA AND PARTNER ANNOUNCE LANDMARK CONSERVATION AGREEMENT
Accord with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Will Protect White River

Salt Lake City, Utah (April 5, 2012)

Today the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and The Wilderness Society announced that they have reached a landmark agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

The White River agreement will help ensure that the wilderness-quality stretch of the White River in Utah will be protected from the sights and sounds of oil and gas development.

As part of this agreement Anadarko commits to eliminate certain surface facilities, minimize its development footprint, and help create a conservation easement in the proposed White River wilderness.

This announcement accompanies the Bureau of Land Management’s planned release of final environmental impact statement related to Anadarko’s proposed Greater Natural Buttes infill development project.

“Our conservation agreement with Anadarko is groundbreaking and exciting. It will provide protections for the remarkable White River while providing Anadarko with certainty in its planned infill development at the Greater Natural Buttes field. We appreciate Anadarko and its willingness to talk to us and respond to our concerns to arrive at a win-win solution,” said David Garbett, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

“This project is a good example of how developers and conservation groups can find common ground,” said Nada Culver, Director of The Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center. “We are glad to see an agreement that will have us working together to seek protection of the White River proposed wilderness.”

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