Save Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness in Utah from Industrial Development!

Comments due November 9

One month before the largest wilderness bill of the last ten years was passed (the Emery County Public Land Management Act, signed into law as part of the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act on March 12, 2019), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rushed to issue a mineral lease to drill in the heart of the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness, which was formally designated as Wilderness by the Dingell Act. Mineral leasing is not allowed in Wilderness.

The BLM had full knowledge that lands encompassing the leased area would soon be designated as Wilderness—but went ahead and issued the lease anyway. 

Now, the agency has prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) to approve a helium drilling project on this lease inside the Wilderness. The public comment period is open through November 9, 2020.

If allowed to proceed, the project will involve months of extensive construction in this remarkably quiet and remote place, including, at a minimum, road improvements (upgrading and graveling of existing two-tracks that forms a “cherrystem” into the Wilderness), well pad construction (5-7 acres of disturbance), pipelines, infrastructure on the well pad, and construction of a 10-acre processing facility on nearby Utah school trust lands. The project developer plans to drill at least two wells for helium, which will have many of the same on-the-ground impacts as conventional oil and gas drilling. Development would take place right up to the wilderness boundary under BLM’s options, and under one alternative, facilities would intrude into the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness itself. The company would likely request further development of the leases which would lead to more development in this area, including the Wilderness.

The Labyrinth Canyon section of the Green River, which was designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act as a “Scenic” segment, is one of the most iconic, remote, and world-renowned river segments in the United States.

Please contact the BLM today and tell them to select the No Action alternative and revoke this lease!

Photo: Aerial view of Labyrinth Canyon with lease area highlighted. Photo ©Pete McBride/EcoFlight, courtesy of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.