Last week, hikers discovered an unreported oil spill in Utah’s spectacular Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Damage from the oil, which came from Citation Oil and Gas Company’s Upper Valley oil field, stretched for four miles through a scenic area known as the Little Valley Wash.
Many questions have yet to be answered about the spill, including exactly when it occurred. Regardless, as the Salt Lake Tribune put it, “Whether it was old or recent, the spill should have been reported to [Bureau of Land Management] officials, but apparently was not.”
Grand Staircase-Escalante is not the only national monument with oil and natural gas within its borders. In fact, the Center for Western Priorities determined that at least six of the nation’s approximately 100 national monuments currently are the sites for oil or natural gas production.
These monuments can be seen on the map below.
Sources: Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Carrizo Plain National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
Similarly, a 2012 report from the Center for American Progress determined that 13 of our nation’s national parks have oil and gas within their borders, while 30 could experience oil and gas drilling in the future.
The reason such development is allowed to occur is because when national parks and national monuments are designated, they are subject to valid existing rights, including oil and gas leases.
Even more national parks and national monuments have drilling occurring just outside their boundaries, which affects air, water, and wildlife within the park. Take Theodore Roosevelt National Park, for example, where flaring of natural gas can been seen from within the national park.
When oil spills in national parks and monuments it raises serious questions: how can energy development co-exist with other uses of public lands, like outdoor recreation and habitat protection? Where should oil and gas companies be allowed to drill? And, are current rules and regulations sufficiently protecting the public and prized outdoor spaces?
That’s why smart planning like the creation of master leasing plans alongside smart regulations like a strong hydraulic fracturing rule from the Department of the Interior are necessary for drilling on public lands, whether it occurs inside the borders of a national park or national monument or not.
Both Jessica Goad and Greg Zimmerman contributed to this blog.