Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL News) President-elect Barack Obama may try to stop oil and gas drilling on 360,000 acres of public land in Utah.
Today Obama's transition chief said opening the land for drilling near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and the Dinosaur National Monument is a mistake. The park service agrees, saying it could harm the air, water and wildlife.
The Park Service has asked the Bureau of Land Management to delay the December 19 sale of the lands but says the BLM has refused to do so.
Some of that drilling could also happen near Nine Mile Canyon, also known as the world's longest art gallery.
About 100 trucks drive through the canyon each day, but if the BLM opens more land to drilling, that number could go up to 400 trucks a day.
The problem is the trucks kick up dust that covers the more than 10,000 ancient rock pictures, and the chemical used to suppress the dust can corrode the art.
A Denver company now says there are two other suppressants that won't destroy the art, but they cost about 80 percent more to use.
