BLM

BASE Jumping Fatality at Notch Peak

Dan Bammes — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:58:38 +0000

Notch Peak is a 9600-foot mountain about 35 miles west of Delta, Utah. From the top, it’s a two-thousand foot drop straight down – and that’s one reason why it’s become a favorite spot for BASE jumping – jumping off the cliff with wing suits and parachutes. There have been two fatalities there in the past year, one just ten days ago.

Final Plan for Oil Shale and Tar Sands Development Announced

Andrea Smardon — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:31:06 +0000

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced a plan to encourage oil shale and tar sands development in the Mountain West. The Bureau of Land Management released its final plan Friday to develop and test technologies to extract these fossil fuels in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. But the citizen group Utah Tar Sands Resistance says this move will endanger the environment and public health.

Mining Claims Come Cheap

Dan Bammes — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:14:23 +0000

Monday is the deadline for people who own a few mining claims on public land to make sure the government knows they want to keep them. The paperwork is minimal and the $140 fee for maintaining a claim can even be waived.

Under a federal law that dates back to 1872, the rules for mining claims aren't that different for the lone prospector and the huge companies that extract millions of dollars' worth of minerals from public land. That bothers Tim Wagner with the Sierra Club, who says big corporations pay almost nothing for the minerals they extract.

BLM Approves Las Vegas Water Pipeline

Dan Bammes — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:09:38 +0000

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced its approval Thursday for a 300-mile pipeline from the interior valleys of the Great Basin to Las Vegas. The pipeline would be used to carry more than 84,000 acre-feet of water pumped from underground aquifers each year. The project is opposed by environmental groups, ranchers, local government officials and Native American tribes in both Nevada and Utah.

KUER News Pod: Thursday December 27, 2012

Brian Grimmett — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:43:51 +0000

The Salt Lake Tribune names its Utahns of the Year, Several Utah cities designate city parks as Christmas Tree drop off zones, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance moves forward with a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management.

Challenge to BLM Plans Moves Ahead

Dan Bammes — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:57:34 +0000

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed new court papers last week to move its case ahead challenging six Resource Management Plans for Utah adopted by the Bureau of Land Management at the end of the Bush administration. The new filings focus on the RMP for the Richfield field office, an area that SUWA lawyer Steve Bloch says includes some of Utah's most spectacular country.

"Places like the Dirty Devil, Factory Butte, the Henry Mountains, Muddy Creek on the southern end of the

Protesters Challenge Tar Sands Decision

Dan Bammes — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:21:55 +0000

About two dozen demonstrators gathered outside the Bureau of Land Management Office at the Gateway to offer their own "People's Environmental Impact Statement" on tar sands. They object to a decision by the federal government to make more than 130,000 acres available for tar sands development in Utah. Right now, the only active tar sands project in Utah is the proposed U.S.

BLM Addresses Conflict on Movie Shoot

Dan Bammes — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:40:00 +0000

Utah spends millions of dollars promoting the state as a location for movies and commercials, and offers significant tax breaks to production companies when they come here. A recent confrontation outside Moab caused some worry about the state's reputation as a prime spot for shooting movies.

Back in July, Jerry Bruckhheimer's production company was in southern Utah, shooting scenes for the upcoming Lone Ranger movie starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp.

BLM Delays Decision On Alton Coal Mine

Dan Bammes — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:32:46 +0000

The Bureau of Land Management will add a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement to its process for deciding whether to allow expansion of a coal strip mine near Alton, Utah.

Land Swap Proposed in Skull Valley

Dan Bammes — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:29:30 +0000

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is asking for public comment on a proposed land swap in the Skull Valley area of Utah's West Desert. It would trade about 14,000 acres, mostly near the town of Terra, for a similar acreage of private land in and around the Onaqui Mountains east of Dugway.

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance supports the trade. Field Director Ray Bloxham says this is an unspoiled area of the state.

BLM Approves Plan for Drilling Near Desolation Canyon

Dan Bammes — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:47:25 +0000

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has approved a plan proposed by Gasco to drill 1,300 new oil and gas wells in eastern Utah over the next 15 years. Some of the wells will be drilled in the Desolation Canyon area near the Green River. That has environmental groups warning of what they call a "disaster."