Modern Art Notes caused a minor kerfuffle the other day posting a call to action over proposed oil development in the vicinity of the spiral jetty. I dug up some stuff the other day noting my disdane for some of the wording used. MAN updated and has posted the PDF files of the oil well development and so I did a bit more digging.

The well location at the surface is proposed at Lat: 41.4225665 Long: -112.7588290 (page 5 of the pdf). Converting the decimal locations into actual degrees and minutes and then looking at the location in Google Earth shows the well location is close, but not that close. In fact it is going to sit between four and five miles west of the Jetty. The permit is for multiple wells and they are all generally close to each other and each several miles from the jetty. The environmental impact notes minor subsidence of the ground may occur, and if it does, it usually happens in a uniform manner. The jetty won’t be sucked into a hole and they aren’t going to be digging through it to lay pipes.

I’ll grant that drilling will be close and more than likely will be visible from the shore, but once drilling is completed I highly doubt anyone will see evidence of the oil well from shore. I’m not sure exactly where the processing facility will be located in relation to the jetty. That will be a more visible indication of the well’s presence than the well itself.

If you want to protest the drilling, by all means do so, but protest on the basis of something else. Utah’s governor has extended the deadline for comments to Feb. 13. This well and related development isn’t going to harm the Spiral Jetty. In fact, if the rains ever return and the drought breaks, the jetty will be back underwater. That’s where it has spent the bulk of its life after all.

Update: The LA Times ran a blurb (2nd item) on the spiral jetty.

In an interview Wednesday, DeFreitas (Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake) said that the proposed drilling by Pearl Montana Exploration and Production would not call for drilling directly into the artwork but offshore equipment could cause noise and visual impairment in a relatively pristine area.

So like I said earlier, no one is going to be digging through the spiral jetty.  I also mentioned the noise and visibility, but once the drilling is finished everything will be under water so you won’t see the well.  As far as the “pristine” area is concerned, that’s a major stretch if not outright misrepresentation of the site.  See my previous entry and also read through the comments at AFG and the update at Newsgrist.  It doesn’t paint a picture of pristine wilderness despite efforts to clean up the area immediately around the jetty.  If you want to protest do so on the basis of something other than the jetty because it isn’t in danger.  {/update}
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