Moab Land Grab-Please Help!

[RideFreak]

I just sent some $$ to the Blue Ribbon Coalition and mentioned this issue.

[Scott450x]

Everyone should be aware that part of the reason this letter was sent was to stop shale oil fracking and natural gas drilling in the area surrounding Moab. I think we can all agree that part of the appeal of riding in Moab is the incredible views and feeling of openness. It would suck to be passing gas wells and oil rigs on a ride.

It should also be noted that just because an area is classified as a national monument does not mean there will be no motorized/mechanized travel. Typically regulations in national monuments are less restrictive than national parks and similar to forest service regulations.

I love shredding as much as the next person. That said: I would be willing to give up some riding area if it meant I didn't have to look at oil and gas rigs or deal with everything that comes with them. Moab is a beautiful place and to open it up to the type of drilling and fracking they are proposing just to keep some trails could be a real tragedy. Just my two cents...

[Gordy]

Originally Posted by Scott450x

I love shredding as much as the next person. That said: I would be willing to give up some riding area if it meant I didn't have to look at oil and gas rigs or deal with everything that comes with them. Moab is a beautiful place and to open it up to the type of drilling and fracking they are proposing just to keep some trails could be a real tragedy. Just my two cents...

With that said, they don't need a national monument designation to prohibit drilling and oil rigs everywhere. That is what the BLM is for and they can do that now.

As we have said before, a National Monument designation will certainly mean less OHV access, not more. Guaranteed.

At the Blue Ribbon meeting last night, it was brought up that the Sierra Club has effectively joined OHV acrtivity with oil field drilling. We seem to be brought into the discussion whenever oil exploration is brought up and people are beginning to associate the two. See how that worked.

[COXR650L]

Originally Posted by Scott450x

Everyone should be aware that part of the reason this letter was sent was to stop shale oil fracking and natural gas drilling in the area surrounding Moab. I think we can all agree that part of the appeal of riding in Moab is the incredible views and feeling of openness. It would suck to be passing gas wells and oil rigs on a ride.

It should also be noted that just because an area is classified as a national monument does not mean there will be no motorized/mechanized travel. Typically regulations in national monuments are less restrictive than national parks and similar to forest service regulations.

I love shredding as much as the next person. That said: I would be willing to give up some riding area if it meant I didn't have to look at oil and gas rigs or deal with everything that comes with them. Moab is a beautiful place and to open it up to the type of drilling and fracking they are proposing just to keep some trails could be a real tragedy. Just my two cents...

Looking at the Sierra Club map of the proposed national monument it is odd their FIRST reason for designation of all the land is rampant OHV use, second is Oil and Gas. The Sierra Club is simply finding a new horse to beat to try and get someones ear.

Have you ever ridden through the entire proposed area for the Greater Canyon Lands National Monument? If so how many Oil and Gas rigs did you see??

Gordy is 100% correct the BLM or USFS have control of where permits for drilling are issued, it would be much easier as an agency to provide protection by not issuing permits in these areas. But BLM was not contacted the president was.

No, all roads will not be closed most likely. But 90% of roads will be closed and all trails positively will be closed to motos. We will get one dirt road that has a 25mph enforced speed limit on it that goes right down the middle of 2.4 million acres

[doc_ricketts]

Originally Posted by Gordy

With that said, they don't need a national monument designation to prohibit drilling and oil rigs everywhere. That is what the BLM is for and they can do that now.

As we have said before, a National Monument designation will certainly mean less OHV access, not more. Guaranteed.

At the Blue Ribbon meeting last night, it was brought up that the Sierra Club has effectively joined OHV acrtivity with oil field drilling. We seem to be brought into the discussion whenever oil exploration is brought up and people are beginning to associate the two. See how that worked.

Spot on.

[Wannabeeuro]

Did you really say "shredding"? I've never tried snowboarding in the desert, what kind of equipment do you use?

Originally Posted by Scott450x

Everyone should be aware that part of the reason this letter was sent was to stop shale oil fracking and natural gas drilling in the area surrounding Moab. I think we can all agree that part of the appeal of riding in Moab is the incredible views and feeling of openness. It would suck to be passing gas wells and oil rigs on a ride.

It should also be noted that just because an area is classified as a national monument does not mean there will be no motorized/mechanized travel. Typically regulations in national monuments are less restrictive than national parks and similar to forest service regulations.

I love shredding as much as the next person. That said: I would be willing to give up some riding area if it meant I didn't have to look at oil and gas rigs or deal with everything that comes with them. Moab is a beautiful place and to open it up to the type of drilling and fracking they are proposing just to keep some trails could be a real tragedy. Just my two cents...

[shearboy2004]

Interesting Noob!

[Wannabeeuro]

Originally Posted by shearboy2004

Interesting Noob!

[FatChance]

Originally Posted by Scott450x

Everyone should be aware that part of the reason this letter was sent was to stop shale oil fracking and natural gas drilling in the area surrounding Moab. I think we can all agree that part of the appeal of riding in Moab is the incredible views and feeling of openness. It would suck to be passing gas wells and oil rigs on a ride.

Interesting first post. You do realize how many of the trails and roads motorcycle riders enjoy in the Moab area were created by uranium and oil/gas prospecting, right? I'm not saying at all that covering the area with drill rigs would be very desirable, but you have to understand the history of how we got what we have...

Typically regulations in national monuments are less restrictive than national parks

Well, that puts my mind at ease...

That said: I would be willing to give up some riding area...

That is really big of you.

[TNC]

I just got back from a couple of weeks of camping and riding in the Big Bend area of Texas ranging from Presidio east to the national park. Had a great time. I drove by some oil/gas activity in the area that is booming, and it didn't seem to affect the enjoyment of my trip. It was nice knowing that I could continue riding my bike for awhile because someone is trying to produce the stuff our bikes run on. It would be nice to be so cavalier as to think that oil/gas exploration or the recovery of petroleum products from old fields would always be nicer in someone else's backyard, but frankly that smacks of hypocrisy in my book.

[COXR650L]

Originally Posted by TNC

I just got back from a couple of weeks of camping and riding in the Big Bend area of Texas ranging from Presidio east to the national park. Had a great time. I drove by some oil/gas activity in the area that is booming, and it didn't seem to affect the enjoyment of my trip. It was nice knowing that I could continue riding my bike for awhile because someone is trying to produce the stuff our bikes run on. It would be nice to be so cavalier as to think that oil/gas exploration or the recovery of petroleum products from old fields would always be nicer in someone else's backyard, but frankly that smacks of hypocrisy in my book.

Ya you are correct, I dont want to see this area over run by oil, but in some regards it is a necessity

That is when correct management by BLM comes into play and they need to properly manage the area so oil exploration is done responsibly. So far there is no indication they are going to let the oil industry over run the area.

[dmac1]

Originally Posted by TNC

I just got back from a couple of weeks of camping and riding in the Big Bend area of Texas ranging from Presidio east to the national park. Had a great time. I drove by some oil/gas activity in the area that is booming, and it didn't seem to affect the enjoyment of my trip. It was nice knowing that I could continue riding my bike for awhile because someone is trying to produce the stuff our bikes run on. It would be nice to be so cavalier as to think that oil/gas exploration or the recovery of petroleum products from old fields would always be nicer in someone else's backyard, but frankly that smacks of hypocrisy in my book.

Glad to hear you had a good trip and that a few rigs were no big deal. We ride by em too out in Utah. As far as in someone else's back yard...let me chime in on that.

At least partly because oil companies are not being allowed to explore and drill on some public lands, they are now in my area drilling and exploring on private land. They are currently exploring for future oil and gas wells within sight and sound of my neighborhood. So whats the big deal you might say??? Tough it out!!! You drive a truck and ride a dirtbike!! For one thing, peace and quiet is why many of us live out here and an industrial site nearby it isn't what most of us want, but WATER is the big deal!!

I am in a rural area and we all have wells into an aquifer. There are many thousands of em. The oil & gas companies want to drill through the aquifer and go down deeper, THEN turn their bits horizontal for like up to a mile (so they could be right under our houses!!) AND ON TOP OF THAT they want to frack the wells! They have no real idea what will happen with their fracking and most of us have major concerns that they will ruin our water. Not to mention that they will use many million gallons of our scarce resource in the fracking process.

IF they were not being shut out of so many public lands, then the oil & gas companies wouldn't be forced to encroach upon us homeowners. And this isn't limited to just my neck of the woods...its becoming more widespread.

[burque magoo]

Originally Posted by RideFreak

I just sent some $$ to the Blue Ribbon Coalition and mentioned this issue.

I sent some $$ to the BRC as well, and also sent some to the Utah Shared Access Alliance
www.usaall.org

[neduro]

Done, thanks for efforts.

Extremely disappointed to see some of the names on the list of supporting companies for the National Monument designation:

http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/O...ion_Letter.pdf

[Fred Garvin]

Joined last year and went for the three year option and became a volunteer for the Stay The Trail program.. As I said earlier, strength in numbers!