REGULATION REDEMPTION:AN ARGUMENT FOR THE REVISION OF UTAH'S OIL, GAS, AND MINING REGULATIONS

摘要

Utah encompasses vast, undeveloped landscapes that embody the spirit of the American West and the very notion of unimpaired wildness.. Yet those qualities are not unassailable: as the state's population grows and rates of nonrenewable natural resource extraction rise, the character of these landscapes changes, Statewide resource development fragments sensitive species habitat, contributing to the potential for additional federal listings of threatened and endangered species such as the Graham's penstemon.1 At the same time, a strong interest in preserving open space for tourism and residents' quality of life means that undeveloped areas take on new economic value. A principal vector for managing the development patterns on public lands, both federal and nonfederal, is the state's regulatory regime for extractive activities - how and where oil, gas, and mining activities take place throughout the state.2 Utah's current approach to managing its oil, gas, and non-coal mining activities, however, is inconsistent with both the state's contemporary economic priorities and its goal of preventing federal endangered species listings. Given that (1) a substantial portion of Utah's modern economy is tied to the conservation of minimally-developed landscapes,3 and (2) the state, by way of its ongoing extractive and development activities, has a significant interest in avoiding the federal listing of threatened and endangered species,4 a shift in the focus and methods of regulating oil, gas, and non-coal mining are in order for Utah.