Natural Gas Drilling on Horse Bench

Over the years, the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition (NMCC) has been involved in the oil and gas development issues in Nine Mile Canyon. Some have assumed that we are a radical environmental organization opposed to any and all drilling activity. Nothing could be farther from the truth. NMCC supports responsible resource development. We were cooperators in the drilling EIS and Programmatic Agreement for the West Tavaputs drilling program. There  are times when proposals are not well planned, responsibly developed, nor executed. When we see evidence of this, we step in - not to stop the project, but to see it’s done as well as it can be. That’s the case here. 

XTO drilling company proposes this project for Horse Bench, the top of the plateau on the south side of Nine Mile Canyon and east of Cottonwood Canyon. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an environmental assessment in  Fall 2015. NMCC reviewed and commented on the EA, which we found deficient in addressing impacts with road use, water use, and the need for additional pipelines into and through Nine Mile Canyon. The BLM revised the EA and decided to approve the project in the Fall of 2018, but did not address nor incorporate our comments. We then (along with SUWA, The Wilderness Society, and Natural Resources Defense Council) protested the decision of the Price Field Office to the BLM Utah State Director in October 2018. 

In January of 2020 the State Director remanded the decision to the Price Field Office for further work and to fix deficiencies in the EA. At that point we expected the project would fade away, given the low price of natural gas, downturn in drilling activity nationwide, and high costs of drilling on the Tavaputs Plateau. Instead, last September Price BLM formally withdrew their prior decision and committed to completing the project. 

They are working on a revised analysis of the project. NMCC has been working with BLM on this project for the past five and a half years and we plan to stick with it to satisfactory conclusion.