Concerns about protecting archaeological treasures are pitted against hopes to develop natural gas leases in Nine Mile Canyon.
Drilling gas exploration wells could damage pictographs and other ancient treasures in the canyon and a tributary, according to the curator of archaeology at the College of Eastern Utah museum, Price.
The Bureau of Land Management's Price Field Office recently issued an initial finding that the project would cause no significant environmental impact. A final decision is pending.
BLM approval is required before the Bill Barrett Corp., Denver, can work on the seven exploration wells it wants to drill. The agency's Price office wrote an environmental assessment on the project, yet as of Sunday it had not posted the assessment on the Internet.
Elsewhere on its Internet site, the BLM Price Field Office posts this description of the region: "Nine Mile Canyon has the greatest concentration of rock art sites in the U.S.A."
Nine Mile Canyon is northeast of Wellington, Carbon County, and southwest of Myton, Duchesne County. It is actually much longer than nine miles. The BLM's listing of important archaeological sites alone covers more than 24 miles.
Indian art on the canyon walls covers three cultures — the archaic, Fremont and Ute. The earliest may be 2,000 years old.
Agency officials say they mailed copies of the assessment to 30 groups and individuals. They also posted a brief notice on the state BLM web site.
"It's a 30-day public comment period. It expires June 13," Patrick Gubbins, BLM field manager, told the Deseret News.
Gubbins wrote in a cover letter about the initial finding, "BLM has determined that no significant impacts would occur as a result of the implementation of this project and that an environmental impact statement is not required."
During a 100-day construction period, up to 2,000 trips to the site could be made by "construction crews, drill operators and supper services," says the assessment. The average would be 20 round trips daily. The BLM estimates current traffic at 126 round trips per day.
Archaeological sites are located near three of the proposed wells, the document adds.
Dust kicked up by traffic on the dirt roads "could obscure visibility of the rock art and accelerate the erosion of the rock art surfaces. Due to the narrowness of the road in Dry Canyon and the size of the equipment being transported to the pads, vibrations could also affect rock art," it says.
The assessment calls the dust from the 2,000 round trips "minimal when compared with the estimated 46,000 round trips in the canyon."
Some documented archaeological sites in the region are especially vulnerable "and are more likely to be unintentionally adversely impacted."
One proposed gas well, called the Jack Creek 19-2 well, is adjacent to a well-known petroglyph panel. "In this area, we know habitations are commonly found in association with rock art.
"There is a high probability of affecting subsurface sites in the drilling of this well. . . . The context of the natural landscape around the site will be lost," notes the assessment.
The document recommends that an archaeologist monitor construction and that to protect a site near one well "a fence should be created along the boundary of the site to prohibit travel and access."
Nine Mile Canyon has "probably 10,000 archaeological sites and hundreds of thousands or rock art panels," said Pam Miller, assistant director of the College of Eastern Utah museum in price, and the museum's curator of archaeology.
Having worked in Nine Mile Canyon for many years, she says it is known as the world's longest art gallery.
Increased traffic from the construction project could be a serious problem, she contends. "The dust affects the rock art, it makes animals sick, it makes people sick, it covers the crops."
A proposed gas well in Dry Canyon would be "right adjacent to an archaeology site," she said. "There's rock art there and there're two granaries."
New sections of road would have to be built to accommodate the drilling, she said, and roads draw increased traffic.
"There's probably three of those wells that shouldn't be there at all," Miller said.
"We're not talking about the Bob Marshall Wilderness here," said Dean Nyffeler, BLM geologist and project manager. It's a canyon with a back-country road, he added.
Gubbins said development leases have been in place for a number of years, as has a 20-inch pipeline. Ranching and tourism take place there, and the project's traffic and dust are considered to be capable of mitigation, he added.
Bill Walsh, chairman of the protectionist Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, fears the project would cause major changes to the nature of the canyon. "They may well disturb some archaeological treasure."
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com