The Washington Post - 19.03.2020

THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

CONNECTICUT

Prosecutor: Shooting

by officer was justified

A Connecticut police officer

who fired through the

windshield of a car coming at

him and killed the 18-year-old

driver was justified in using

deadly force, a state prosecutor

announced Wednesday.

Wethersfield Officer Layau

Eulizier believed that the car

was about to hit him and that

his life was in danger, Hartford

prosecutor Gail Hardy

determined.

Police said Anthony Jose Vega

Cruz drove at Eulizier after

fleeing a traffic stop and leading

police on a brief chase.

Hardy’s decision outraged

Vega Cruz’s relatives, who

vowed to sue Eulizier and the

police department, said their

lawyer, Ben Crump.

Police dash-cam and business

surveillance videos show

Eulizier running in front of the

car while it is stopped briefly

during the April 2019 chase.

Eulizier yells “Show me your

hands” several times and fires

two shots through the

windshield when the teenager

drives at him.

Vega Cruz died two days later

at a hospital, while a passenger,

his 18-year-old girlfriend, was

not injured.

Officers were trying to pull

over Vega Cruz because the

license plates on his car were

not registered to that vehicle,

officials said. Eulizier is black,

while Vega Cruz was Hispanic.

— Associated Press

MICHIGAN

Man convicted in

killing of LGBT people

A 19-year-old Detroit man

has been convicted of gunning

down two gay men and a

transgender woman, who

authorities believe were

targeted, last year following a

house party.

A Wayne County jury

convicted Devon Kareem

Robinson on Tuesday of first-

degree premeditated murder,

assault with intent to murder

and felony firearm in the

killings of 21-year-old Alunte

Davis and 20-year-olds Timothy

Blancher and Paris Cameron,

the Detroit News reported.

Robinson could face life

without the possibility of parole

when he is sentenced April 13

for the May 2019 killings.

Prosecutors said Davis and

Blancher were gay men and

Cameron was a transgender

woman, and they and police

believe the victims were

targeted for their sexual

orientation or identity.

The three victims were slain

in the living room of a Detroit

home following a party

attended by about 15 people.

Robinson allegedly shot and

wounded two other people

inside the house.

— Associated Press

politics & the nation

DIGEST

warned.

The pressure for development

is increasing both northwest and

southwest of Moab, Bloch said,

which could harm the region’s

recreation industry.

“No one is traveling to Moab

from around the world to see

flaring, or to see oil and gas

operations,” Bloch said. “A nd if

even a portion of these leases are

sold, it would fundamentally

change the nature of Utah’s Red

Rock Country from an area that

has internationally renowned

dark night skies and natural quiet

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

A view of the Bears Ears Buttes, namesake to Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, one of the public lands near potential drilling sites.

BY JULIET EILPERIN

AND DARRYL FEARS

The Interior Department has
received more than 230 nomina-
tions for oil and gas leases cover-
ing more than 150,000 acres
across s outhern Utah, a push that
would bring drilling as close as a
half-mile from some of the na-
tion’s most famous protected
sites, including Arches and Can-
yonlands National Parks.
The petitions for the Bureau of
Land Management’s September
lease sale, some of which come
from anonymous potential bid-
ders, could transform a region
renowned for its pristine night
skies and stunning topography.
Some of the parcels are also with-
in 10 miles of Bears Ears National
Monument’s current boundaries.
“This is a scale like nothing
we’ve seen so far as far as leasing
outside our national parks,” said
Erika Pollard, associate director
for the southwest region at the
National Parks Conservation As-
sociation. “It’s a big chunk of the
public land out there.”
The bids were listed in the
agency’s National Fluids Lease
Sale System, which is available
online. The nominations are
sometimes winnowed down by
bureau officials following a re-
view.
While the BLM can reject nom-

inations as it prepares lease sales

for auction in September, Trump

administration policy tilts deci-

sions in favor of energy develop-

ment.

In an email Tuesday, BLM

spokeswoman Heather Feeney

said the bureau was still in the

process of reviewing lease nomi-

nations and had not reached any

final decisions.

“A ll lease sales undergo an en-

vironmental analysis to deter-

mine potential impacts of devel-

opment before they are put for-

ward for lease,” she said, adding

that the agency could not discuss

details until that assessment is

published this spring.

“The BLM has the duty to

manage land for multiple uses,”

she added, “which means balanc-

ing a variety of activities on pub-

lic lands, including energy devel-

opment and recreation.”

Some of the nominated leases

lie just a half-mile from Canyon-

lands, with 25 of them within five

miles of its boundaries. Others

are 1½ miles from Arches, with

more than two dozen within five

miles of its edges. Both parks are

popular tourist attractions: More

than 1.5 million people visit Arch-

es annually.

Environmentalists, including

Pollard and Southern Utah Wil-

derness Alliance legal director

Steve Bloch, said the black night

skies would be obscured by light-

ing and methane flaring if the

nominated area is developed to

such a degree. The profound qui-

et of the landscape would vanish.

The air quality and views — visi-

bility for 100 miles on a clear day

— would be disturbed, they

to an industrial zone.”

Just a few weeks ago the BLM

pulled two leases slated for auc-

tion on Moab’s Slickrock Trail

because of protests from the

state’s Republican governor and

local officials, who argued the

legendary mountain biking spot

should be off-limits to drilling.

Trump officials have pressed to

expand oil and gas drilling across

the country, both on public lands

and offshore. Since January 2017,

the federal government has auc-

tioned off more than 9.9 million

acres of leases to oil and gas

firms: A little more than half the

area slated for drilling is located

onshore.

According to a recent analysis

by the Wilderness Society, an ad-

vocacy group, if all the fossil fuels

buried in those sites was extract-

ed and burned, it would translate

into between 1 billion and

5.95 billion metric tons of carbon

dioxide being released into the

air. That u pward measure is equal

to half the annual carbon output

of China, the world’s b iggest e mit-

ter. Carbon dioxide is a green-

house gas that has been linked to

climate change.

It is unclear whether the com-

panies nominating parcels for

bidding in southern Utah plan to

develop those leases or sell them

instead.

Prairie Hills Oil and Gas LLC,

which has nominated the majori-

ty o f parcels, appears to be a small

company with one well in North

Dakota. They have submitted

more than three-quarters of the

nominations, according an analy-

sis by the Southern Utah Wilder-

ness Alliance and The Washing-

ton Post.

The company, headquartered

in Big Lake, Minn., could not be

reached for comment.

Western Energy Alliance Presi-

dent Kathleen Sgamma, whose

group represents oil and gas com-

panies, said in an email that the

sites selected by bidders lie with-

in an area the bureau has already

identified as acceptable for drill-

ing. These management plans are

negotiated over a long period

with public input, and the agency

sometimes puts special restric-

tions on leases near sensitive ar-

eas, she added.

“The majority of the nominat-

ed parcels are several miles out-

side park boundaries,” Sgamma

said. “Parks do not carry an addi-

tional buffer zone emanating

around them.”

Matt Kirby, NPCA’s director of

energy and landscape conserva-

tion, said the BLM’s lease sale in

Utah “is part of a pattern we’ve

seen across the West.”

He noted that the

a dministration has auctioned

more than 24 million acres, even

if bidders have leased less than

half that amount. Last month, a

f ederal judge in Idaho voided

nearly 1 million acres of oil and

gas leases on Western lands.

“They’re leasing as fast as they

can, in as many places as they can,

regardless of whether it’s close to

national parks,” he said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Oil and gas firms want to drill outside Utah’s n ational parks

UTAH

COLO.

ARIZ.N.M.

Detail

WYO.

IDA.

Salt Lake

City

191

NEV.

Arches

National

Park

Glen

Canyon

Nat. Rec.

Area

Obama-era

Bears Ears

National Monument

boundary

Canyonlands

National

Park

Indian

Creek

Unit

Moab

Dead Horse

Point State

Park

10 MILES

LAUREN TIERNEY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Sources: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center,

Bureau of Land Management, Landsat imagery via Descartes Labs

Nominated leases

Proposed sites near

tourist spots would cover

more than 150,000 acres

occurring only about six or seven

miles below the surface, which

may have maximized shaking at

the s urface.

According to Utah’s Division of

Emergency Management, it was

the strongest earthquake to strike

the s tate since 1992.

Rocky Mountain Power report-

ed 55,000 customers without pow-

er in the Salt Lake region after the

quake. There also were reports of

structural damage. Cracked walls,

toppled furniture and other m inor

damage were reported at the

homes of many residents across

the s tate capital.

Initial data suggested the e arth-

quake was associated with “nor-

mal faulting,” which occurs when

one tectonic plate or fault slides

down the side of another.

In addition, there was probably

some strike-slipping, which

means one fault slid a bit past the

other side t o side.

The quake is likely to have oc-

curred along the Wasatch fault. It

parallels the Wasatch Range,

which is no surprise, considering

the mountains were formed by it.

The plate to the east rises, while

that to the w est dips below.

According to the USGS, the

Wasatch fault zone can be divided

into 10 smaller segments of fault-

ing, about h alf o f which have b een

active for 10,000 years. The USGS

estimates that those segments

produce quakes reaching 7.0 in

magnitude about every 900 to

1,300 years.

[email protected]

BY MATTHEW CAPPUCCI

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake
struck near Salt Lake City on
Wednesday, damaging buildings,
causing thousands of power out-
ages and upending operations at
the a irport f or several hours.
The earthquake struck around
7 a.m., its epicenter located about
four miles west-southwest of Salt
Lake City International Airport.
Heavy shaking was felt across
north-central Utah west of the
Wasatch mountains.
There were no reports of any
serious injuries, though many
people were evacuated from the
airport and the Federal Aviation
Administration issued a ground
stop for all inbound flights for
several hours. Video emerged on
social media of damaged pipes
gushing water from the ceiling
inside a terminal.
The airport was deemed safe
and p assengers were a llowed back
just after 1 p.m. The damaged wa-
ter pipes also were promptly re-
paired.
For much of the morning,
though, the airport urged passen-
gers to stay away.
Within three hours of t he initial
quake, nearly two dozen after-
shocks greater than 3.0 in magni-
tude struck in the immediate vi-
cinity.
According to the U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey, there is a roughly 1 in 5
chance of an aftershock greater
than 5.0 in m agnitude occurring.
The earthquake was shallow,

5.7-magnitude earthquake strikes near Salt Lake City

GEORGE FREY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

A construction crew fixes a broken waterline in downtown Salt Lake City after an earthquake hit the Salt Lake Valley on Wednesday

morning, followed by many aftershocks. The quake damaged buildings and caused thousands of power outages.