Editorial: How Caltech can make amends for illegal drilling near petroglyphs (via latimesopinion)
The petroglyphs were just three feet from where the Caltech geology students would drill more than two dozen holes in the rock face, each of them one inch in diameter. And yet one of the participants, assigned to do advance scanning, failed to notice the ancient rock art, their professor says.
It took four years to reach the agreement because on top of the damage itself, the federal government had to conduct a full investigation, which was delayed by the pandemic. No matter how isolated or “pre-pandemic” it was, the drilling flouted basic laws that every geology student should be learning in an introductory class and affronted Indigenous people who have a deep history in the region.
The problem is that as long as the chances of being caught are slim and the fines are slaps on the wrist, there’s too little incentive to prevent unauthorized drilling and gathering on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It’s bad enough that drilling for oil and gas threaten archaeological treasures; it’s shocking to think of academia as a cause for concern as well.
Otherwise, these cases become an ongoing confirmation of the old saw that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
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