An artist forwarded me an E-mail this morning about proposed oil drilling by Pearl Exploration & Production, LTD near Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty in Utah.  Apparently this proposal was just sneaking in under the radar when it came to the attention of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, who have spread the word.  Here is a copy of their application in .pdf form for your perusal.  It’s pretty vague, except for the map (seen above, with location of Sprial Jetty noted) which places the edge of one of their sites a mere 2 miles away from the artwork.  There’s no real information about the pipelines, service roads or other impacts on the area which would no doubt stem from the exploration site.

Pearl needs to better explain their intentions before they should be allowed to go ahead with this exploration, which would no doubt affect not only one of the world’s most important pieces of land art, but also impact a beautiful wilderness - I’ve had the pleasure of driving throughout Utah, and it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  I have not had the pleasure of seeing Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, so I cannot opine on that front, but I would like to have the opportunity to see it without an industrial backdrop.

The deadline for protest is 5PM today, which I presume is Utah time, so for us Angelenos, that’s a 4PM deadline.  Please spread the word.  The person to contact and leave messages is Jonathan Jemming at either 801-537-9023 or jjemming@utah.gov. The application number to reference is # 8853.  At the very least, this project needs to be better articulated before going forward, so what is important in your E-mail or phone message is to stress the need for an extension on the application.

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