Should Uinta National Forest managers expand the number of acres where oil and gas drilling are allowedfi

Forest managers are hoping residents will express their opinion about that question at a public comment meeting Thursday evening.

The Forest Service now allows oil and gas leases on 197,000 acres, and almost all of those leases have been taken, said Dan Dallas, acting supervisor of the forest, in a statement. The Forest Service is now considering allowing leases on 777,700 of the 897,400 acres of the forest.

The forest service already held one public hearing on the matter, which only 13 people attended, said Pam Jarnecke, environmental coordinator for Uinta National Forest. Two more people have commented via e-mail.

A second hearing was scheduled on Thursday "to make sure we give ample opportunity for people to comment," Jarnecke said.

Several recent federal laws have required the Forest Service to analyze whether additional acres could be leased for oil and gas drilling, she said. In addition, "we have had some interest from industry," she said.

Forest managers could decide not to expand the number of acres where leases are allowed, or could allow leases on new acreage, or could relax or make more stringent the rules that those who lease must follow, she said.

If managers determine more acres should be opened up to drilling, that would not mean drilling would immediately begin, she said.

Bidders must purchase the leases at auction and then file their drilling plans with the Forest Service before drilling could begin.

But once a decision has been made to allow drilling on certain parcels, there is little the forest service can legally do to stop drilling in those areas, so Thursday's public hearing is important, she said.

"If you want to come in and do any disturbance of the ground, you have to come in with a separate document that goes through another level of public involvement," she said. "Once it is leased, we are restricted in our ability to restrict them. If there are areas we don't want leased, this is our opportunity to say so."

Even though 197,000 acres of the Uinta National Forest are now leased for oil and gas drilling, no company has ever drilled, she said, though one application to start drilling has now been submitted to the Forest Service.

As the Forest Service studies whether to allow more leases, socioeconomic, environmental, cultural heritage and recreational factors will be taken into account, said Dallas.

A draft decision will be made by December and a final decision by Nov. 2007.

For information, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/uinta/projects/nepa.

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.

To comment on whether Uinta National Forest managers should open more acres for oil and gas drilling:

Attend the public open house from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday at the Uinta National Forest Supervisor's Office, 88 W. 100 North, Provo.

Write to Dan Dallas, Acting Forest Supervisor, Uinta National Forest, P.O. Box 1428, 88 W. 100 North, Provo, UT 84603

Call (801) 342-5100

Fax (801) 342-5185

E-mail: comments-intermtn-uinta@fs.fed.us.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D3.