paleontogical and archeology studies

Some a bit of info to show they are not one of the same studies.

State of Utah
School &Institutional
Trust Lands Administration
675 East 500 South, Suite 500
Salt Lake City, UT 84102-2818
801-538-5100
801-355-0922 (Fax)
www.trustlands.com


IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR OIL AND GAS OPERATORS WORKING ON TRUST LANDS

There are several important changes occurring at Trust Lands of which all oil and gas operators exploring or producing on these lands must be aware.

Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. ?63-73-11 which provides for the preservation and protection of paleontological resources on trust lands and in the knowledge derived from the study of those resources, the School and Institutional Trust lands Administration (SITLA), the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM), and the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) have mutually agreed to require oil and gas operators to provide adequate reports on paleontological resources in a similar fashion to the way archeology reports are filed when working on trust lands.

Beginning January 1, 2008, oil and gas operators needing to conduct surface disturbing activities on trust lands must file with SITLA either paleontological inventories or evidence of a previously completed review by a permitted paleontologist. These reports, when required, should be submitted to SITLA along with the archeology report.

Please refer to SITLA's website, www.utahtrustlands.com. Go to the prompt "Maps and GIS" in the gray bar then click on the map entitled "Paleo Sensitivity Map". If your surface disturbance will occur in areas that are marked sensitive (orange), reports will be required by SITLA. If your surface disturbance is not located within a sensitive area, no paleo report will be required; however, archeology reports are required on every trust land parcel. UGS is the repository for these reports and will have ten working days from the time the report is forwarded to them by SITLA to review the data and make recommendations. APDs within sensitive areas will not be released to DOGM for further processing until the report is filed with SITlA and the UGS timeframe expires. Not submitting a required paleo report will result in delays in getting your APDs approved by DOGM.

Next, under SITLA's oil and gas leases, it is entitled to all information provided to DOGM for operations on trust lands. The agency does not want to duplicate the DOGM well file but needs certain information in order to be able to verify the status of its leases. Therefore, effective immediately, the agency will be requiring operators to provide weekly Drilling Reports on all new wells on trust lands. The reports should be sent to: [email protected] from rigging up operations through final completion.
SITLA is the managing agency for all activities on its lands and must approve any operations conducted on those lands. Prior to conducting surface disturbance, reclamation or mitigation projects that were not approved by SITLA at the on-site, operators must contact either Jim Davis or Ed Bonner to obtain approval of those operations.
Finally, SITLA is enclosing a copy of our "Standards for

Construction of Oil and Gas Roads on Utah Trust Lands" brochure. These are minimum standards SITLA requires for new road construction on trust land. These mayor may not be the same as federal standards. It is the responsibility of the operators to be familiar with these standards and conduct their construction accordingly.
Should you have questions, please contact either Ed Bonner at 538-5151 or Jim Davis at 538-5156.