Green Options » land rights

Stealing Rock Canyon: Land Rights Dispute Sparks Activism

Ruedigar Matthes — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:22:32 +0000

There are no security guards or high-tech alarm systems to protect this treasure. Instead, it is the rock climbers, hikers, campers and recreationists that are working overtime to protect this gem from being stolen. Rock Canyon in Provo, Utah has long been a haven of solitude for the humble seeker of peace and the nature lover alike; but recent disputations over land rights have formed darkening clouds on the horizon.

In the mid-1990s Richard Davis purchased nearly 80 acres of Rock Canyon along with a 1906 mining claim. Recently, Davis has sought to use his claim in order to mine quartz from the mountain; a prospect that has recreationists and naturalists up in arms.

Richard Davis, however, has legal rights to the land; and with consent from Provo city and the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Davis has control of the reigns with how he will use his land. His plan: mine quartz, which is beneficial for the lucrative minerals with which it is layered. In order to obtain the quartz, rock would be cut away from the mountain, which one pro-canyon activist, Jim Knight, compared to cutting off the nose of the Mona Lisa.

Earth to Musicians: STING’s Amazing Rainforest Foundation

Lucille Chi — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:43:57 +0000

More than two decades ago, rock star Sting, and his wife, Trudie Styler, created The Rainforest Foundation and over the last 20 years it has expanded and diversified. There is the New York-based Rainforest Foundation Fund, backed by Sting, which provides funding for three branches - Rainforest Foundation US, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK (together they directly support projects in more than 20 countries that protect tropical rainforests and the people that live there)…

Every year an area of rainforest the size of England and Wales is cut down. This leaves local people homeless, drives animals and plants to extinction and releases more CO2 emissions (which cause climate change), than all of the world’s planes, trains and automobiles. Tropical deforestation is an issue that affects us all. ~The Rainforest Foundation

How a Billionaire Candy Man Fights Energy Companies

Maria Surma Manka — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:21:16 +0000

In many western states, landowners don’t necessarily own the minerals beneath their own property. This allows energies companies, in some cases, to drop in and drill. That doesn’t sit well with one wealthy Montana resident.

Forrest E. Mars, Jr. is the billionaire owner of the Mars Candy Company, the wonderful people who bring us treats like Snickers and M&Ms. He’s been a relatively secretive and private individual, but his sprawling Montana ranch - called Diamond Cross - also happens to sit near some of the largest natural gas and coal deposits in the country, including on the northern end of the Powder River Basin. So Mars and his $14 billion are joining ranchers and groups like the Northern Plains Resource Council to file a lawsuit to stop the companies’ operations.

Pinnacle Gas Resources is one of the energy companies that holds a lease on Mars’ land predating his ownership. Last week a judge ruled that Pinnacle could start drilling on Diamond Cross for coal-bed methane, a type of natural gas found in lodged in coal seams.