When the Bush Energy Policy Confronts Ancient Art | NYT

[Ediacara]

When the Bush Energy Policy Confronts Ancient Art
By FELICITY BARRINGER

Published: June 13, 2004


Monica Almeida/The New York Times
Preservationists fear that scenes like the one above, which
were drawn on rock walls in and around Nine Mile Canyon, Utah,
hundreds of years ago, will be threatened by the exploration for
natural gas, which will involve drilling more than 5,000 holes
in a plateau above the canyon and slightly to the south of it.

RICE, Utah - Blaine Miller, a quiet, slow-talking 57-year-old archaeologist, has made a career of studying the haunting scenes of net-wielding hunters and sinuous horned snakes on the smooth rock faces of Nine Mile Canyon near here. His colleagues consider him a leading expert on the 400- to 1,500-year-old images etched and daubed on the canyon walls. But Mr. Miller's bosses at the Bureau of Land Management barred him from evaluating recent proposals for natural gas exploration around the canyon after a gas company executive complained about his work.

Mr. Miller said he had sought more stringent protections for the rock art than the government eventually required. His bosses said he had the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The quiet drama that has played out in the last year because of Mr. Miller's removal from the development review reflects not just the polarization typical of battles between industry and preservationists, but also the pressures on the regulators controlling federal land.

More at the New York Times

[Leprechan29]

1. Thats just disgusting

If the art is damaged at all, it will be a huge loss for both our country and for historical protections everywhere

[jeff5]

2. Easy to See What's Sacred

to these people. Kinda like the Taliban and the Bhuddas...