Spiral Jetty, Wildlife threatened by proposed oil drilling in the Great Salt Lake

Photos

Spiral Jetty, Wildlife threatened by proposed oil drilling in the Great Salt Lake

see larger image

uploaded by bluheron

• 

  uploaded by bluheron | add comment

• 

  uploaded by bluheron | add comment

The Spiral Jetty is a large earthwork art piece which was built in the shallow, pink waters of the Great Salt Lake in 1970 by artist Robert Smithson. The 1500-foot-long spiral was submerged for decades by high water levels, but it has recently returned to the surface, and is now at the leading edge of a controversial drilling proposal currently under consideration by the State of Utah's Governor's Office Resource Development Coordinating Committee. The controversy began. when members of a local conservancy group were tipped off by a sharp-eyed attorney that the comment period was to expire on the drilling proposal at 5 p.m. MST on Wednesday, January 30th.

When the news of this deadline finally hit the blogosphere, it was eventually posted on BoingBoing, a popular blog which is read by thousands of individuals a day, and presumably, this set off a flurry of emails and phone calls to the office of the overseeing analyst, Jonathan Jemming, as his voicemail box was reporting that it was full by 5 p.m. MST on Wednesday, January 30th, which was the posted date of the comment deadline.

The Spiral Jetty lies in the remote and difficult to reach northen arm of the Great Salt Lake, an area which is notable mainly for it's extreme isolation and stark, inhospitable environment. For many people who visit the Spiral Jetty each year, this trek is one that is worth it for the wild, surreal beauty which greets visitors to the  massive earthwork. Along the way, visitors may see an abundance of wildlife, such as birds, fox, coyote and many other creatures which manage to survive in the high mountain desert environment. Driving closer to the artwork's location, the dirt road grows ever narrower, rockier and more difficult to traverse.  Finally, reaching the Spiral Jetty, travelers pull into one of the small, unimproved dirt parking areas and are treated to an all-encompassing silence and a good view of the earthwork spiraling out into the algae-tinged pink waters, with black basalt boulders crusted in white salt. When the air is clear, as it often is, the unimpeded view stretches for many miles, and very often, visitors can even see the buildings of downtown Salt Lake City and the distant mountains up to 150 miles away.

 One of the closest landmarks to the Spiral Jetty is the pair of islands just offshore, Gunnison Island and it's smaller companion, Cub Island.  Gunnison Island has been designated as a State Wildlife Management area for decades, and is home to one of the largest breeding populations of American White Pelicans in North America, along with many other birds such as the California Gull, Snowy Plover, great Blue Heron and others. Gunnison Island's importance as a rookery or nesting site has been a key issue in prior development attempts in this area. Since Gunnison Island does not connect to land even when the lake levels are at the lowest, it is protected  from land-based predators, and boaters and other recreational users of the Great Salt Lake are not allowed to approach or land on this island due to it's role in the breeding cycle of many bird species. 

Many details on the proposed drilling project come from a PDF which was posted on the BoingBoing website. The Canadian company which is named on the application, Pearl Montana Exploration and Production, LTD, details that they are planning to launch barges from a nearby harbor in order to drill "exploration boreholes" in anticipation of future oil development. The possible significant impacts listed on the application document do not mention potential impacts such as noise, wildlife disturbance, pollution or any potential hazard from accidental oil spills. 

The public has been invited to comment on this project until Wednesday, February 13th, and written comments can be sent to  the following individuals:

jjemming@utah.gov

mikemower@utah.gov

johnharja@utah.gov