Northern Corridor is not the only threat to our beloved Red Cliffs Desert Reserve
Just when I thought I only had the Northern Corridor to fret about, now there’s this! I regularly attend Habitat Conservation Advisory Committee meetings. For those who don’t know, the HCAC is the group that under the auspices of the Washington County Commission oversees and manages the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, most of which is now the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, an area established in 1996 — a time of great growth in Washington County — for protection of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise and other species.
I attend these meetings because it’s important to know what decisions are being made that may negatively affect the reserve. Generally, my focus has been on the proposed Northern Corridor, a highway that would run through the heart of the reserve’s Zone 3, prime desert tortoise habitat. That threat still looms given bills in Congress by Utah leaders and UDOT’s current effort to get a right-of-way approval for the road. The two bills are not moving at this point. Although unlikely at this point, if Congress gets a public land omnibus bill going, as was done back in 2008, a bill could be included thereby forcing a road.
What perhaps is more concerning now, however, is a project that’s being promoted by Dominion Energy (formerly Enstar) to build a major gas line through the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, perhaps — and very importantly! — setting a precedent for a road. The project was presented to the HCAC Sept. 25, and my antennae perked up immediately. The HCAC moved the project to its technical advisory committee, which is composed of biologists from the county and state, people who really care about the reserve and the protected species that reside there. The technical advisory committee heard the Dominion presentation Oct. 10, and there were, needless to say, many concerns expressed. They tabled the issue and sent the Dominion representative away with a list of questions to be answered.
Dominion Energy is using the “we have to have it by 2020 due to growth pressure” excuse to try and force this through the process. With leaders throughout the county approving development projects with abandon and most of that development in the southern and southeastern areas of the county, Dominion asserts that they have to have this line.
But why is this being forced through the reserve? Are there no other options? When I asked this of the Dominion representative at the Oct. 10 meeting, he stated that they could go through Nevada or some other area but that it would increase rates to rate payers, but he presented no details about what those rate increases might be.
Why can’t the line be laid along the border of the reserve? Apparently because that would be an “inconvenience” to people and businesses; plus, there’s one area where they would have to bore deeply to do the installation, creating additional problems. So we can be inconvenienced with the Bluff Street expansion resulting in a mile-long line up of cars on Sunset but can’t be inconvenienced elsewhere in the future due to our county’s growth explosion? The Dominion representative was asked to provide additional details on this possible route at a future meeting.
Dominion asserts that the Habitat Conservation Plan — the plan that provides direction about how to manage the reserve — has a Utility Development Protocol that allows for utility development in the area. This is true, but what they overlook is that there has not been a project of this magnitude in the reserve, and as was made clear by one of the technical advisory committee members the “intent” of the Utility Development Protocol was not for projects such as this that require a 100-foot corridor. This 100-foot by 6.5-mile corridor would be graded, and the area will never be returned to the quality of desert environment it is now. Additionally, during the presentation, the Dominion representative said they “don’t anticipate” any blasting to accomplish the job. Given the sensitivity of the habitat in which they desire to work, that’s not reassuring at all and leaves the area open potentially to blasting that would be harmful to the tortoise. The area through which the gas line would go is an “avoidance area,” so the technical advisory committee was curious why this was coming before them at all.
Perhaps the biggest problem we face is leaders and developers who are working in concert to build as quickly as they possibly can, thereby forcing a need for this gas line that might not otherwise be required to be rushed. There is no good reason to allow this line to be pushed through our reserve. The reserve was established over 20 years ago in good faith during a high-growth period in this county. Population projections then showed exactly where we are now. We need to continue to protect this area and live up to the obligations that have been made. If development approvals by city leaders need to be slowed due to lack of infrastructure, then so be it.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent
Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:
—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.
—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.
—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”
—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).
—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.
—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.
Articles related to “Northern Corridor is not the only threat to our beloved Red Cliffs Desert Reserve”
Piercing the heart of the Red Cliffs NCA/reserve is no solution
Letter to the editor: Utah snake oil salesmen push Northern Corridor/Washington Parkway
Letter to the editor: Northern Corridor? Just build a tunnel
