This concerns a detailed plan of Thurston Oil to use drilling and fracking to create two oil wells inside Ouray National Wildlife Refuge. They expect to produce 400,000 barrels of “waxy crude.” Thurston leased rights to the underground oil and minerals from the Utah Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.
The surface, given to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1960s, is a safe home for wetlands wildlife. The 15,000-acres, partly bordered by the Green River, sounds like a nice place, no?
Thurston's plan meets requirements for minimal disruption to wildlife. How minimal would the disruption be to people wanting to get away from noise, dust and pollution.
Brian Maffly's June 7 article in The Tribune indicates that less than a third of oil wells drilled on refuges are active. Why has the Fish and Wildlife Service been non-public about this project and the public comment period, which ended June 16?
Leave the refuge alone. Are two wells needed? Do you want oil trucks, building, drilling, fracking and pipe affecting your refuge visit?
Perhaps the damage and disruption of extracting these minerals were not as apparent when the lease was sold.
Carla Coates, Holladay