A public relations battle has broken out over a controversial drilling project in the Nine Mile Canyon area of eastern Utah. Critics say the company's new media campaign is luring Utahns with false environmental promises.
Jim Felton, with the Bill Barrett Corp., said, "There will be no net impacts. There will be temporary impacts, but at the conclusion of the project, they will all be remediated."
The Bill Barrett Corporation has already spent $1 billion to drill 100 natural gas wells. It's seeking government permission for 800 wells and a switch to year-round drilling.
Steve Bloch, with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said, "The term I use is greenwashing, and I would describe it essentially as trying to mislead the public."
Federal officials will decide soon whether drilling should be revved up in an area prized by lovers of history and archaeology. Now critics are blasting an ad campaign that's meant to influence the process.
You may not have noticed all the activity on the Tavaputs Plateau in the last six years, but lately, you probably have noticed the ads aimed at families worried about high energy costs.
One advertisement tells viewers, "That's why the West Tavaputs Plateau natural gas project is so vital. Show your support at Tavaputs.com."
The ads don't mention that the project straddles Nine Mile Canyon and its world-famous archaeology.
A radio ad says, "Bill Barrett Corporation is committed to 'no net environmental impact' to the area. That will bring vital energy to America."
But Bloch said, "The impacts from dust and the impacts from drilling are having adverse impacts to the rock art."
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, SUWA, plans to roll out its own public relations campaign. Bloch said, "To take on some of the misrepresentation of Barrett and their attempt to green-wash their natural gas project in the Nine Mile Canyon region."
The company told us the project has vast economic value. Felton said, "And it's a little bit along the lines of what T. Boone Pickens is saying these days: Natural gas is cheap, it's abundant, it's clean, and it's ours. I'd really like to know what SUWA doesn't like about a formula like that."
The company won't reveal how much they're spending on the ad campaign, but says it's an "infinitesimal fraction" of what they're spending on the project. They claim the state will benefit to the tune of about $100 million a year.
For more, see the story by John Hollenhorst .
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road