This is certainly, hardly enough to alleviate the current oil shortage and high prices at the pump.
The Friends of Great Salt Lake, Utah Waterfowl Association, National Audubon Society, Audubon Council of Utah, including the four local societies of Bridgerland Audubon Society, Great Salt Lake Audubon Society, Red Cliffs Audubon Society and Wasatch Audubon Society, and Utah Airboat Association all agree that there are conflicts and risks associated with development of these oil and gas leases, including leaking wells, visual impacts and recreational and wildlife conflicts.
Outside of environmental impacts, the “visual impacts” are much tougher to justify as valid reasons to not drill for oil. Not everything should be sacrificed for art obviously, but neither should our future be sacrificed for oil, when there are several renewable energies to be developed. Which, potentially, might be more cost effective and energy fruitful than trying to get 33,000 plus barrels out of the ground in this one particular spot. It has also been reported that the US is already sitting on 68 million acres of leased land that may not be fully exploited for exploration and drilling – so why look for more? All things being equal, I can only imagine that there are other sites beyond the Great Salt Lake that might have resources that are much cheaper to get and refine and could have a lower impact on the environment. I’m making it sound simple, but it would behoove us to work in areas of already leased land that have a higher priority of success and output. But this still doesn’t address the aesthetics of art and the fate of the Spiral Jetty.
The story broke earlier this year of potential drilling near the jetty, alerting art constituents everywhere to sound the alarm, and broadcasted on several art blogs such as Art Fag City, Modern Art Notes, boingboing, and many like them, including a passionate letter from sculptor Nancy Holt (who was married to Smithson), but there has since been some debate about whether or not Smithson would be outraged by big oil troubling the waters once again. For the most part, the debate centers around and cites his ideas about entropy. Some argue simply that the jetty wasn’t built to last, and that Smithson knew and somehow desired the process of entropy to overtake his chef d’oeuvre.
One particular point of view that epitomizes the discussion comes from David Eubank and his blog, david eubank on art. He says,
Article comments