Oil and Art in the Great Salt Lake

Not that it has anything to do with real estate, the debate over oil drilling by the Spiral Jetty is one that has caught my attention.

The Spiral Jetty is that big spiral rock formation on the Great Salt Lake created by Robert Smithson in 1970. It is pictured in the upper left corner of this post. The debate, if you haven’t heard already, has been raging since a Canadian oil company requested a permit to drill for oil just a short distance away from the jetty.

It is a proven fact that there is oil in the lake, but that’s not the issue to the anti-drilling crowd. They argue that an oil platform would disrupt the natural feel of the area around the artwork. The Spiral Jetty is, after all, recognized by art lovers around the world as a masterpiece. To do anything that would disturb the ambiance for art-loving visitors would naturally cause an uproar.

This issue is a difficult one for me. I love art and natural beauty, but I also recognize that the western United States has an enormous amount of oil underground that could be used to reduce dependence on certain foreign nations. Since I’m a Utahn, I have even more of an affinity to the Great Salt Lake and it’s beauty. Ideally we wouldn’t have to drill if we lived in a more energy efficient nation, but the fact is we don’t.

I believe that the oil platform would only be about 16×16 feet and six feet high, so it might not even be that big of an eyesore. For me, the further away from the Jetty that they can drill, and the smaller the platform, the better.

Do you agree or disagree? What do you think?

Tags: Spiral Jetty,Robert Smithson, Great Salt Lake Spiral Jetty, Spiral Jetty oil drilling, Salt Lake City

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!