David DeMille

ddemille@thespectrum.com

Conservation groups are rallying supporters to fight a proposed oil and gas lease sale on public lands that could come within just two miles of Zion National Park.

The Bureau of Land Management released this week an environmental assessment of three parcels nominated as potential leasing sites within Washington County, including two that would be well within view of the popular park if they’re actually developed.

“This is a completely inappropriate location for oil and gas leasing and development,” said Steve Masefield, a resident in the nearby town of Virgin and a former chairman of the Virgin Planning and Zoning Commission. “Drilling on these leases would not only degrade the scenic vistas enjoyed by visitors driving to Zion — nearby rural neighborhoods would be devastated by industrial smells, lighting and traffic. Our water — and the water used by communities downstream — could be polluted.”

The two parcels in question straddle the North Creek drainage area just west of the national park boundaries, north of Virgin and other tourism-heavy towns along state Route 9. A third parcel is also under consideration about 10 miles to the northwest, along Interstate 15 just north of the Toquerville interchange. Combined, they cover 4,730 acres of land administered by the BLM's St. George Field Office.

The BLM is taking public comment on the EA until Feb. 10. If approved, the parcels could be included in the agency’s oil and gas lease sale currently scheduled for June 12.

The two parcels closest to Zion have been listed as available for lease on the agency's resource management plan and have been the subject of multiple requests for nomination for several years, according to a BLM spokesperson.

The BLM decided this time to initiate the leasing process to determine whether leases could be possible and to determine if stipulations could be sufficient to protect resources on the land, said Ryan Sutherland, a public affairs specialist with the agency.

Sutherland said in an email that if the agency decides against a sale, the parcels would be deferred until the resource management plan could be amended.

"We have notified and tried to work with the (National Park Service) throughout this process, and will continue to do so," he said.

Any private party can nominate BLM land for leasing, but agency representatives said nomination only initiates a lengthy environmental process. If any or all of the proposed parcels are included in the sale, each would still require an additional site-specific environmental study before operations could begin.

The EA cites potential challenges to drilling including air quality, recreational activity and the presence of nearby endangered or protected animal and plant species.

According to the assessment, oil production in the area could provide “short-term opportunities for employment” and other benefits, with the average cost to drill and complete an individual well currently estimated at $5 million. Longer-term benefits could be measured if the well is productive.

The EA also notes that negative economic impacts are possible, including potential impacts on tourism. More than 4 million people visited Zion in 2016, and the park is by far the largest driver of the county's tourism industry.

Opponents were questioning whether leases should be considered at all within such close proximity to the park, with conservationists noting the proposed parcels overlap lands the BLM designates as possessing wilderness characteristics.

“With over 4 million annual visitors to (Zion), BLM should be working collaboratively with the National Park Service to protect — not threaten — the world class resource these visitors come to enjoy and be inspired by,” said Cory MacNulty with the National Parks Conservation Association. “The doorstep to one of America’s ‘Best Ideas’ is not the place for oil and gas leasing and development.”

Decades have passed since the last effort at oil drilling in Washington County, but the area did see a series of drilling efforts in the early 1900s, starting with a well field outside of Virgin in 1907, according to the Washington County Historical Society.

An oil well was also the site of one of the area’s worst tragedies.

In 1935, an explosion killed 10 people and injured two others at the site of the Escalante oil well in Bloomington, about five miles south of the St. George city center. About 100 townspeople had gathered to watch a “shooting” at the well, during which explosives were to be used to stimulate better production. An estimated 2,500 pounds of nitroglycerin ignited, setting off an explosion that witnesses said could be felt as far away as Pipe Springs, 60 miles to the east, according to accounts recorded in the book “Images of Faith; a pictorial history of St. George, Utah,” published with photographs by the Lynne Clark Collection.

Electronic copies of the EA are available online at http://on.doi.gov/2fQdXkY . Hard copies can be obtained in person at the BLM’s St. George Field Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive.

The public review and comment period is scheduled to last until 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 10.

Follow David DeMille on Twitter,@SpectrumDeMille, and on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/SpectrumDeMille. Call him at 435-674-6261.