Nobody in this family ever flunked anything, said my dad, a physician. He figured if he could get through medical school, I could certainly get through pre-med. But no. I pulled an F in organic chemistry.
My, how times have changed. Four scoops of coffee, four cups of water, push button, voila — coffee. I love chemistry.
What I don’t love is the Bureau of Land Management’s take on drilling: another Trump dump on one of Utah’s most pristine wild places, Labyrinth Canyon along the Green River.
Sound familiar? Just a month before the Emery County Public Land and Management Act/John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act was signed into law in 2019, the BLM issued a lease to Twin Bridges Resources to drill into what was about to become the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness.
So here is yet again a prime example of rushing to develop before giving a reasonable and hard look at the impacts to such a unique Utah gem. In rushing to sell immediately before the area would become
Utah’s newest wilderness, the company and the BLM believe this large-scale development fits just fine in the middle of a place that today sits remote and wild. I don’t share that belief.
It doesn’t take an advanced degree to understand what Aldo Leopold observed around a hundred years ago: A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.
Note to Twin and the BLM: Delete designated wilderness areas from your development pursuit. Note to a lame duck POTUS: Take your wrecking balls out of Utah and gas up elsewhere. As my dad would’ve said, I need another hole in the ground like I need another hole in my head.
Ken Kraus, Salt Lake City