Groups sue to stop Utah oil and gas drilling

"yess, you can buy anything in this world with.. oil"

I might be wrong, but the pic they used looks an awful lot like an arch that collapsed recently and was in the news...

They have reported about this story a few times and always show pictures of areas I am sure are not anywhere near where an oil rig would be.  Why don't they use a picture of an actual area that the leases are on?  How close is close? 

Environmental extremists are going to fight drilling everywhere.  I don't know if their outrage here is justified or not.  None of these stories give anybody enough information to make a qualified, impartial judgement on the issue.

You're right lorent, it has collapsed............

This is going to sound wacky, but it's late.  I lived in a certain location and had a favorite "rock" at a local hike that was my contemplative personal perch (wish I could embed a pic here). The view from this rock was stellar.  I would bring a notebook and you know....blah blah blah... Anyhoo.  The year I knew I was going to move the rock (for the first time in 20 yrs) shifted in a slide.  Do you think there is a connection here?

btw. It's worth watching RR's interview.  He puts this heinous act into perspective.  More light needs to be shed on these dirty dealings.   

bush is a traitor who has sold out the American people. He has sacrificed American lives for lies. His total ineptness did not allow him to capture one terrorist on a donkey because he was not interested in catching this terrorist. His interest was in placing a puppet government where there was oil to be had.

On his final days he has adopted Sadam Hussein's tactics of a burning retreat. Burn everything on the way out so that nobody else can have any of it. bush is a criminal and should face the music.

Why is it rich celebrities always think they know what is best for our country and its citizens? I'm sure Redford can afford all the gas he needs but what happens to the rest of us when gas goes back up to $4 a gallon because supply is low and Congress won't let us drill anywhere? I am so sick of celebrities getting all the time in the media that they want to voice their opinions and regular people acting like these celebrities are gods and godesses and have all the answers. And for all you Bush haters out there, if you hadn't been watching the mainstream media the last eight years you would love the man! You are influenced by what is reported to you! Our President has kept us safe for the last 7 years and for that I am grateful. He has given more money to aid the continent of Africa than any other person in history. As for the economy, one man can not have enough influence on the economy to make it crash and burn or succeed. We the people determine if we succeed or fail. So lets put the blame where it belongs, on people who thought they could afford a $200,000+ home on a $50,000 salary. Or on the people who bought a house and when the value started to drop they irresponsibly stopped paying their mortgage and walked away even though they could afford the payments. A house is not a short term investment it is a long term one!! And then these same people who bought more than they could afford start crying to the gov't for mortgage help! Give me a break. Be responsible borrowers people, buy what you can afford!

Bush and his buddies strike again. They are trying to grab anything and everything they can before leaving office. This 'land grab' is probably designed by Mr. Cheney. Yes, this is OUR land and WE must be asked before anything is done with it.

Not only will our children and their children inherit an enormous debt because of the Current Administration, but they will be facing the destruction of nature and our supposedly 'preserved' natural environments. Greed and fraud is most certainly the signposts of GW Bush. What a terrible shame.

Well the fact is our children were inheriting debt long before Bush, try starting back at reagon era, but they won't have to worry long, because if we aren't going to allow oil drilling anywhere then they be dead soon anyhow..Til this Govt. becomes self suffiecent nothing will change..I am really sick of hearing save the rocks, Lets save the country and our Children from terrible future !!If there is any state out there that has enough sense to drill , please notify me so I can move there !!

Angie, please calm down a little bit.  The thread is about oil companies that want Bush to auction off parcels of land.  Bush will do it because they are his buddies.  If you think that Bush is such a great president, then good for you.  Keep to your beliefs if that is what keeps you warm at night.  But allowing oil companies to drill in these new places is incomprehensible.  If you have never been there, go check it out for yourself.

Those of us that yell and scream when these places are being sold off to drill, only do because we have seen it before, and after in other areas that have been ruined by the drilling.

I live in the city, but I do a lot of travelling and hiking in the mountains.  When I get within 50 miles of civilization to come home, I have to keep my nose closed because of the smell.  You may not realize that there are not too many places left that a person can go to "get away from it all".  Maybe you should take a little trip.

When you talk about a "President" that has had is as his main focus to restart a war that his daddy never finished, and used his powers to make his friends (an himself) rich, you would wonder why he hasn't been shoved out the White House yet.

The people that he has made rich have kept him in there.  They are the same people that are now begging for a piece of the 700 billion give-away-bash....

david elm said:

"The people that he has made rich have kept him in there.  They are the same people that are now begging for a piece of the 700 billion give-away-bash...."

Actually, NYC and Wall Street employees vote overwhelmingly democrat.

Actually, they don't.

(gotta love neocons inventing facts)

This is the same kind of nasty publicity that the Alaskan pipeline got.  It was going to kill off all the wildlife.  The polar bears would be extinct.  lol   Well, it's no more true than that was.  The Arch pictured fell from natural causes---erosion.  Using it to picture this land is another way of lying to the people.

We are a country being held by our throats by Saudi Arabia and Chavez.  When your house is cold in the middle of a snowstorm and your car's gas tank is empty because you can't pay $4 a gallon for gasoline, don't whine to your government.  Drilling a 1000' below the surface has never hurt the land or wildlife.  We need the use of our natural resources for more than someone to look at and there's been more than one bear attack on hikers in these parks.  The BLM and Natural Resources groups turned mountain lions lose in some areas and they are killing livestock but that's not being reported.

It is no different for Bush to approve leases on land than any other president has done.  I personally was angry when Clinton shut down 14 army bases in our country then a year later both Clintons were denying it ever happened  Those bases are still standing empty and neglected while our returning soldiers are ending up in homeless shelters and untrained to do anything but march and fight. 

You blame Bush for 9/11 and that is just so ridiculous.  You need to blame our culture which has given us the feeling that no one can touch us.  During WWII we had German submarines off our east coast.  We have been raised to believe that no one can or will come all the way over the oceans to hurt or attack us and as such we have never set up the necessary means to protect ourselves on our own homeland.  No one ever thought that something like that could happen right here in our country and the shock rocked us back on our heels.  You want to blame someone for 9/11, blame yourself.  What did you do to protect us from that attack?  We let our government reduce our armed forced within our borders and call that budget cuts needed so they could spend money on pork projects.

Last - Bush and his Administration has done very little to protect us, preserve our environment, honor the Constitution, and grwo our Country. In 8 years, His ignorant, uneducated failures have done exactly the opposite.

Now we are fighting not to lose our wilderness areas. You think that drilling oil wells in pristine wilderness places aren't destroying and will destroy the areas that were supposed to be preserved. You must have never seen an oil rig, roads and buildings to support the drilling, and the mess that is made of a large area surrounding each new well. Look it up and see what will happen to our inheritance.

Bush has given our jobs away. Destroyed our environment (and wants to destroy more), taken our tax money and given it to his banking and Wall Street supporters. Can't we do anything about his destructive and greedy last days in office? Looking at what's happening now and what has happened over the last 8 years is nauseating.

fiore said:

"Actually, they don't.  (gotta love neocons inventing facts)"

Actually the do.  (Gotta love those liberal bloggers who either don't read, can't comprehend what they read or invent facts.)

"New York City voters backed Obama in overwhelming numbers, and he won clear majorities in the suburbs and upstate urban areas. Rural upstate voters were about evenly split between Obama and McCain."---USA Today

"Democrats received 65% of all campaign donations from Wall Street Hedge Funds in 2008."---Center for Responsive Politics."

Democrates are the darlings of Wall Street."---LA Times

Sorry, should read, "Democrats are darlings of Wall Street."---LA Times

So you have contracted the "drill baby drill" mentality Kathy? Get your hair done like hers? buy the glasses? Gas should be 3 or 4 bucks a gallon to get the Shat Utility Vehicle land barges that cannot stay in their own lane some people insist on driving off our roads, one person in a vehicle that can seat 8 or a monster pickup truck that has never seen anything larger than a bag of groceries? Think about the next generations, not just yourself

I doubt any of that oil would make any difference now or in the long run anyway, the amount of oil that the US uses is horrendous. 

urq196 said:

"Gas should be 3 or 4 bucks a gallon to get the Shat Utility Vehicle land barges that cannot stay in their own lane some people insist on driving off our roads, one person in a vehicle that can seat 8 or a monster pickup truck that has never seen anything larger than a bag of groceries?"

So is it your contention that you or anyone else, whether they be the private sector or the government should be allowed to dictate what kind of vehicle I drive?  Last I checked, this was the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Maybe we should check into all of your personal preferences and determine which ones don't fit in with the "public good."   

Last I checked, we were founded as a NATION, not a group of selfish bigmouths.

Observer, No doubt most are actually fighting to keep that freedom of choice right along side you. I don't know what kind of car you drive but would you mind me asking why you drive whatever car it is you do drive?

I'm not picking a fight, I actually want to know what you think. I drive a VW, (which I hate because of how poorly it was made and how much money I have to spend to keep it running) the long distance I have to go to school, while I have my mom drive the Chrysler Sport van in our little two street town for short trips. I also rip out the seats and use it for a heavier work vehicle. Other-wise, I keep it garaged. But I'd do that normally, regardless of gas prices or regulation, it just makes common sense to me.

I believe Kathy is thinking about them, without a source and overseas contacts being depleted the generations to come won't survive..and please Do Not compare me to that low life palin..I didn't vote for ethier party..Proud Independent, and why is it that an opinion for oil freedom from 3 rd world makes anyone a party, it opinion plain and simple, just for the record I voted Independent !!

Observer, you quoted my post, and clearly did not UNDERSTAND it, you drivin' a Ford f-350 doublecab with groceries on the front seat? Oh, you are a patriot and anything I say will be unamerican, the America that has gotten too full of itself, look at the absurd cars we drive at the expense of our children and grandchildren, do you care about them? do you have common sense?

Don't let Observer get to you. He clearly just likes to argue.

Gumby...

Strange...you profess to be an environmentalist yet all you post are snide characterizations about what YOU think Robert Redfords environmental attitude is all about and NOTHING about how Bush is attempting to destroy the landscape.  

He's famous enough that his dissent of the midnight hour carnage on public lands that Bush plans to impose gets published...I doubt you have that kind of pull.

If you are truly what you say you are, you should welcome every bit of help you can get to stop this travesty, so quit whining about where the support is coming from.   

Grumbly,
I can tell you where he was, he was saving a piece of Colorado. He is a conservationist. He has more than put his money and time where his mouth is. Thank your lucky stars he had the fortutude to stand up on this last minute rape.

LOL Gumby..I don't think Limo's get very good Mpg, and I hear your points, don't ya love those who claim they are supporters yet there actions show differently !! he probably wants to buy the land for his self, big money in oil rigging, wonder what he intends to pay his workers ???

People don't like Chris Buttars because he is a racist, homophobe that wants to force schools to teach "Divine Design" creationism in school as a scientific fact (his words not mine).

And who suggested that Bush will bomb America?

And have a Merry Christmas

A Real Utahn(sp.) - You and your pseudo-conservative friends and probably multiple relatives are as greedy and stupid as the neo-cons that continue to support Bush et. al..

You might want to READ your Bible, if you are truly a fundamentalist conservative, and see what God has to say about the stewardship of our planet. Stop talking out of both sides of your mouth. Either you want to continue your greedy, fraudulent ways in the image of your new god, Bush, or you want to coerce us to believe in your destructive, selfish agenda for our wonderful Country.

I am all for God, but I don't think he would mind people saving the future, after all it benefits every person, not just the rich, so that being said I do believe God would be happy to know someone is trying to save the future for the children..I didn't vote Bush and yes he has messed up alot but drilling for oil to become free from 3rd world holds sounds like the best plan he has had yet !!

Fisherman--Thanks for posting your irrelevant and absurd points.

--First off, Bush isn't my God; God is.

--Second, I wasn't talking out of both sides of my mouth. You people seem to believe that drilling will occur between the delicate arch simply because MSNBC uploaded a nice-sized photo of another arch for the front page story. Over 80% of Utah's land is government-regualted land, and most of it is public land. Does this mean that we shouldn't drill on any of that 80% of land?

--Third, what exactly is my "selfish agenda" for this country? Is it really selfish to seek freedom from OPEC terrorists by drilling our own oil? Your little friends (I didn't call them cronies, but I could've called them something worse) keep saying that drilling won't make a difference in prices for ten years or more! Oh my goodness! By then I'll be 28, and I'll sure be happy that we have reduced gas prices! Enviros made the same argument ten years ago--boy, wouldn't cheaper gas be nice right now?

--Fourth, most of my relatives are farmers who are barely able to scrape by with increased feed and gas prices. My father is a CEO of a turkey plant that closed for three months because they couldn't afford to purchase corn--a major component in turkey feed--because prices were up as a result of government subsidies for corn turned to ethanol--another idiotic Democrat-supported invention. So please don't assume that we are greedy people. I'd sure like to get your financial background.

Roy, tree huggers? Consider the world a milk cow; if you kill the cow, what's left? And when all the oil is gone, what then, Roy? How about the last stand of trees or maybe the last school of fish? Should I refer to you as an oil hugger?

Maybe it's time for a little truth and some reality in all of our lives.

we have got to stop being controled by opec now !!!  the only way to do that is to drill , whatever it takes !!!  sometimes i think most democrats are so stupid they cant see what we need to do if it bit them in the a~~ . we can drill in sensetive ares now because nobody wants to destroy the beauty of our country , but we need to keep up just to keep america strong . wouldnt it be nice if we told opec to take a hike , we got our own supply and the money stays at home instead of giving your dollars to countries like iran , venizualia so they can complete their nuke program . now show hands on what american wants that to happen !!!  weve got to supply our country with our own energy period . just think how many jobs it would create . mr. redford doesnt have a care in the world because the money he has , he is just thinking of himself and maybe his relitives because hes not needing a real job . the last time i checked he puts his pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else  !!  are you understanding this yet ???  wake up people , relocate the enviromentalists to a desert island , then lets go to work !!!

Chris - Where do you get the desire to drill for oil where there might not be oil? Why don't you come into the 21st century and back/invest in alternative sources of energy. Do you realize that no matter how many wells we drill, oil will run out. There's only so much of it. How about putting money where your mouth is and pay your share for wind, solar, bio-fuel alternative energy sources that will NEVER run out??

Your illness will die just like the dinosaurs did....or don't you believe they ever existed? You are a dying species and will go down with the ship if you continue to think that the direction of environmental and citizen rape is the way to go.

Well considering all the alternatives mentioned are long ways off for one reason or another, we need to drill now, its faster and when they get there act together with the others switch over..I am all for other ways but all I hear is talk and no action..Chris makes some very good points, this is matter of survival, the economy sucks and many had a hand in that, if we could get out from under opec, money would remain here, jobs would be available and this country could get back on its feet, be interesting to hear the same posters complain in couple months when gas is back up to 4.00-6.00 !!

I'm sure Palin wouldn't have a problem with us drilling next to her house. Unfortunately, idiots like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi prevent us from doing so. It's not as if they are going to drill under the delicate arch or something.

You people could care less about what happens in Utah unless it's the LDS Church protesting gay marriage or environmental treasures being "threatened" by oil drilling. Stop sticking your nose into our business!

A real Utah Mormon. Listen up MR. Mormon.The state your cult thinks they own, is in fact a state in the Union of United States. I'm am sick to death of the pioneer families of your cult members thinking that the salt  lick state belongs to them. Realize that because Mr. Smith's cult/group got kicked out of our civilized nation at the time, and fled out west, did not entitle your cult to something that never belonged to them. I don't want your cult/church or your sick people to benefit at any point in time. The oil and gas is just a great reason for us to counter the cult in the  State. Tell that to your puppet prophet. My nose is embedded deeply up southwest Utah's crevices. And Mr. Reid, Mr. Leavitt and Mr. Romney are all part of your cult.

Bo--The religious threats really are quite childish. The LDS religion isn't a "cult," but it does happen to be one of the most charitable religions in the world.

Just because I'm a Mormon doesn't  mean I "believe" the state belongs to me, but I do believe elite liberals on the east and west coasts shouldn't be telling us what to do with our oil. Most sensible (a.k.a Republican) states support oil drilling, and only Utah has a significant Mormon population. It's time for the feds and ignorant crybabies like you to be quiet and let us drill!

We will never, ever as long as we are using oil for fuel, be completely free of the influence of middle-eastern oil.  For one thing our prices are dictated by a global market, do you really think that drilling and pumping oil out of Utah will lower our prices?  If you do then you really don't understand how the petrol market works.

If you really believe "We have to get free of the Muslims and I mean now." and I do believe that.  We need to find a new fuel, there is no other way.

Leaper, Did you know that we have had clean energy technology for decades but it's use has been stopped by many opposers -those special interest groups who would stand to or are afraid they would lose money, power or control? Others would say they oppose it because there seems to be a direct correlation between the use of energy and population growth.

Oil is nothing more than a huge pile of dead dinosaurs turned to dodish ooze. It's been wonderful we have been able to use their bad joss in our cars and industry for how many years? Coal is nothing more than dead veggitation from 200-300 million years ago. It's predominantly made of carbon -void of oxygen and hydrogen atoms, warmed periodically while crushed soild under pressure.

Bluntly stated, we have built a whole civilization for billions of people around dead animals and veggitation in the form of "fossel fuels". But if this is all we have left up our sleeve, then we can kiss our hinnies good bye.

Funny, people will worry about their cars, what kind they drive, how large or small but the big picture says we are over-populated, based on the finite state of these resources which includes flora and fauna alike. I don't know about anybody else but if I have to make the choice between a tree or a car, I'll pick the tree every time. I guess I just figure I've got a better chance of survival out in the woods than in a caddy.

This puts a whole new meaning to the term "tree hugger" when looked at from another angle, doesn't it.

Little leaper - We now have a volunteer army. Why don't you go fight the Muslims you profess to hate. Your Country needs you and more like you to die for Oil!

bubber said:

"Bush and Cheney should be jailed with OJ...OJ didn't cause nearly the death and damage Bush has."

Brilliant!  Let's also go back and arrest every living ex-president.  They ALL made bad decisions from time to time.  Bush has made some poor decisions.  Clinton at least contributed to 9/11 by not getting Bin Laden when he had the chance.  Under the Carter administration, soldiers died while trying to rescue hostages in Iran for no other reason than our military had been so emaciated by budget cuts that we couldn't even find enough working helicopters to complete the rescue.   While we're at it, why don't we arrest all those who voted for these people?  After all, aren't they just as guilty?    

Observer, lets be fair!

you can't list those things and not at least mention how Reagan trained and armed the "Mujahideen Freedom Fighters" as he called them during the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan, this is where OBL earned his name and built his following, many of those same "freedom fighters" went on to become Taliban.

Not to mention Reagan's empowerment of Saddam Hussein and turning a blind eye toward the very gassing of Kurds that we used 15 years later to help justify a war against him.

Yes ALL presidents have made bad mistakes.  We can still convict posthumously.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a fan of either of the administrations you sighted. As for the Clinton comment 9/11 could have been overted if the INS had done nothing more than their job. The Bush administration has done more to destroy the American way of life by stomping on the constitution and taking away freedom all in the name of security.

What freedom has been taken from you ?? Please give a list of the freedoms YOU have lost, not a bunch of political rhetoric, but the freedoms YOU have lost. Americans have no concept of what it is not to have freedom. Try living in a socialist paradise like i did in the 50s and then you will understand what it is not to have freedoms.

Vesey? Where did you live? Also, may I ask -what lead up to socialism? What was it like to live there in the years prior to it becoming socialist?

Don't get fooled, drilling isn't the way.

I'll admit I am preaching from a soap box. It is just every day with nothing positive. I don't wish Hell or death on anyone, I am just pissed that so few care, like this is all a joke.

In reply to #17, you need counseling.

speedingticket69,
Take a pill. I'm amazed how GWB controls your behavior...the ultimate irony would be that bush gives you a heart attack and both of you burn in hell.

Frog- that's easy for you to say, literally -two syllables. Somebody kiss this guy.

I hope you get your dreams, Gary.

That stinks. Really. I'm suprised the gov. hasn't done more recently.

All the beautiful land is protected in state and national park. Trust me, the land that is is being drilled on already, and the land proposed to be drilled would not make anybodies top 10 list of senic must sees.

Dugh?????????

I say, lets do it old style and create hydro-electric plant where you have a place to store water and generate clean power at the same time.