The secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI ) has approved a major natural gas drilling project in Utah’s Uintah Basin that will allow the development of more than 3,600 wells over the next 10 years. DOI approved the “resource protection alternative” set forth in a May 2012 Record of Decision prepared for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM ).  

The selected alternative, which allows for surface disturbance of 7,766 acres, or 4.8 percent of the total 162,911-acre project, will allow the development of the wells plus supporting infrastructure, including access roads, camps, compressor stations, water management facilities, gas and water pipelines, power lines, and a gas-processing plant. See BNA Daily Environment Report, May 9, 2012.