A Uintah Basin oil and gas project that recently received the green light from the BLM may not proceed. Federal judge Evyln Furse has challenged the BLM conclusion that the Gasco energy project would have “no significant impact” on the environment, reports KSL. Judge Furse expects the BLM to utilize air quality data within Duchesne and Uintah Counties rather than figures from further south that were used in the study. The judge is the magistrate over the lawsuit filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance against the Department of the Interior over the Gasco project. The ruling by Judge Furse could affect future development in the Basin as it shines a light on high ozone occurrences in the Basin and could demand that air quality be addressed before projects can proceed. That, combined with ever stricter EPA regulations on air quality, could create a difficult combination to overcome. Basin officials and industry leaders are actively working to address the issues of high ozone. This includes an effort to put the issue into perspective as some high ozone days are related to exceptional weather events rather than controllable factors.
