The latest national monument in the United States is at the centre of a dispute between environmental campaigners and the oil industry. Two years ago President Clinton proudly declared the canyonlands of Grand Staircase Escalante in the West to be a world-class wilderness. But as Philippa Thomas reports, the government has since allowed the oil company Conoco to begin exploratory drilling in the area.

President Clinton described the country of redrock canyons as some of the most remarkable land in the world - almost 2 million acres of geological treasure.

In the distance are Monument Valley and the edge of the Grand Canyon. It was home for hundreds of years to native American tribes, but the last place in the continental US to be mapped

Now its being promoted to the eco-tourists as an area of unspoilt wilderness. Some local entrepreneurs believe that rarity value will help bring in a new kind of business and much needed revenue.

Mark Austin, Boulder Mountain Lodge, says: "You realise that the beauty is all encompassing. The beauty is not just the obvious visual qualities, but it is the lack of roads, the lack of people, the lack of intrusion."

Conoco's exploratory drilling

But the government's land managers are under pressure from competing interests, those who believe industrial development is more likely to bring in jobs and money.

Don Banks, Land Management Bureau, says: "This is 1996 when this area was set aside. This is the edge of a new millennium, this is not the turn of the century. A lot of the land that we have in our existing federal landbase comes with a past history."

The region is at a crossroads. Now that is has been declared a national monument the question is how best should the land be managed.

The company Conoco has spent the last few months test drilling at one site - the first of many leases it owns on monument land. The region could be rich in oil coal and gas.

Lincoln Lyman, Conoco contractor

Lincoln Lyman, Conoco contractor, says: "We depend on oil in a vast way. It doesn't matter if we are a backpacker, a hiker, going camping or whatever, we have to have petroleum products. Let's use ours, rather than depend on Middle East sources."

Those who call themselves realists say that in an area the size of Wales, the occasional rig or mineshaft will hardly be noticed.

The environmentalists say it is a dangerous precedent.

One environmentalist says: "The government's action permitting them to go forward and develop, could also be used against other national parks in other parts of the US and that is a frightening thing to contemplate."

If it doesn't strike oil, Conoco may decide to cut its loses and move out. But it has 58 leases still to expire and if it discovers that it is sitting on riches, the fight to the next step will go all the way to the White House.
 

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