Denver-based producer Bill Barrett Corp. began seismic gas exploration activity on the West Tavatus Plateau in Utah on Saturday, one day after The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) withdrew its request for a federal court in Washington, DC, to issue a preliminary injunction barring the producer from moving forward, said a spokesman for the company.

SUWA pulled its bid for the injunction during a hearing before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday, said Bill Barrett’s Jim Felton, who added he did not know the reason for the group’s action. Repeated phone calls to SUWA counsel, Stephen Bloch, were not returned Monday.

“We’re relieved and happy” with the outcome of the hearing, noted Felton, although the producer’s victory could be short-lived.

Bill Barrett will be allowed to continue its seismic work on an 80 square-mile area outside of Price, UT, while Sullivan rules on the merits of a lawsuit brought by SUWA, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and the Utah Rock Art Research Association against the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which cleared the so-called “Stone Cabin” seismic project. The groups claim Bill Barrett’s seismic work would harm cultural resources and damage wilderness areas, and have asked for it to be blocked.

Sullivan is expected to issue a decision in the case on July 21, Felton said.

NRDC senior attorney Sharon Buccino said that while Sullivan allowed the producer to move forward with seismic work in the interim, the judge directed Bill Barrett to take a number of specific steps to avoid damaging the environment.

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