Utah Ranch Faces Energy Transport Conflict

The Daily Herold, Utah's number one media source for news and technology, published an extremely interesting story covering a political and social controversy which has caught the attention of citizens nationwide. With the budding controversy regarding energy production in the United States taking center stage in today's political talk, the calls to place a pipeline across a historic Utah ranch has turned many heads.

The Denver, Colorado based energy company has claimed that the historic ranch is the most convenient and plausible area through which the pipeline ought be place. The owner of the ranch, Steven Hansen, reported to The Associative Press that the pipeline threatens to damage irrigation and archaeological resources acroos the property. The Utah ranch is claimed to be home to various Native American artifacts as well as unique and historical rock paintings. Should the pipeline be placed on the property the energy company would seize a 3/4 mile easement through Mile Nine Canyon.

With the debate of energy production and transportation already so contentious in today's society, this additional discrepancy only adds to the tension. The question that the average American need ask themselves is, "how far are we willing to go?" This particular pipeline would be used to transport natural gas, but one of the many nonrenewable resources which we as Americans depend upon so heavily. How willing are we to upset landowners and destroy historic artifacts to transport an energy source which is inevitable going to fail us regardless? The question in this situation is modified. It is not a question of this specific case, this specific Utah ranch, it is a matter of societal growth. We must expand as a society, we must produce and exploit energy sources that are both conducive environmentally and socially. The effort which this Denver based energy company is expending on this particualr issue would be much better spent on the attempt to create a sustainable energy source.