Monday, February 11, 2008

Oil Company Plans to Drill "Spiral Jetty"

1st NW Quadrant\The Approval Matrix: Week of February 18, 2008


A proposal to drill for oil in the Great Salt Lake near the Spiral Jetty has alarmed artists and conservationists around the world who thought the threat to Robert Smithson's massive earthworks piece was out of harm's way under a year-old settlement.

It turns out the lease a Canadian oil company holds was not covered in the agreement. Utah officials now are considering whether to allow drilling barges and oil rigs in the lake's Little Valley Harbor, five miles southwest of Rozel Point and the Spiral Jetty. Drilling could commence this year, State Planning Coordinator John Harja said Thursday
-- The Salt Lake Tribune

According to the artist's widow Nancy Holt, a number of pipes and pumps will be laid beneath the water and shore, as well as roads built for oil tank trucks, and cranes for other project needs, all of which promise to severely alter the surrounding environment including Spiral Jetty. -- boingboing

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