Another Power Line through a National Monument?

Please ask the Utah Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to not allow a new power line in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). 

Garkane Energy Cooperative has submitted a proposal to construct a new power line (called the “Tropic to Hatch Power Line”) through the northwest corner of the GSENM, in an area managed as a “primitive zone.”  The proposed power line would be located within the Utah Wilderness Coalition’s Box Canyon proposed wilderness, an area the BLM has identified as having wilderness character. It would also be adjacent to The Blues Wilderness Study Area. (Read SUWA's initial comments to the BLM regarding the proposed power line.)

The Monument Management Plan states that new utility rights-of-way (i.e. power lines) will not be permitted in primitive zones; in cases of extreme need where other alternatives are not available, a plan amendment could be considered.

In this case there are reasonable alternatives to the proposed power line outside the GSENM; these alternatives are discussed in the “Tropic to Hatch Draft Environmental Impact Statement.”   Nevertheless, the BLM’s preferred alternative is the alternative that would harm the monument!

Although there is an existing power line in the monument near the proposed location of the new Tropic to Hatch power line, this should not be considered a reason to allow a new power line in the monument.  Power lines are inconsistent with the objectives of the monument, and it is conceivable that the existing power line could be removed at some point in the future.   

Please take a moment to tell the Utah State BLM Director that the monument is not an appropriate place for a new power line, and that the wild and scenic lands and resources of the GSENM must be protected, as stated in the Presidential Proclamation that established the monument.