WildEarth Guardians

Monday, August 22, 2005
Rare Falcons Found on Area Slated for Oil and Gas Drilling on Otero Mesa - Sightings Require Feds to Reconsider Drilling Impacts

Endangered aplomado falcons were seen earlier this month on an area of Otero Mesa slated for oil and gas drilling..
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe, NM - Endangered aplomado falcons were seen earlier this month on an area of Otero Mesa slated for oil and gas drilling, calling into question the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial plan to allow drilling in much of Sierra and Otero Counties, in southcentral New Mexico.

“These falcon sightings are incredibly exciting and occur in an area that has high quality falcon habitat. The BLM needs to reconsider land management practices that will alter or fragment desert grasslands. Our current state of knowledge on aplomado falcons indicates that these falcons are likely to be detrimentally affected by alteration and loss of grassland habitat,” stated Kendal Young, the wildlife biologist who developed the BLM’s model for whether habitat is suitable for aplomado falcons.

The BLM’s plan to allow oil and gas drilling over much of Otero Mesa was in part based on the assumption that there were no aplomado falcons in the area. The August sightings require the government reconsider whether falcons and their Chihuahuan desert grassland habitat will be adequately protected from the impacts of oil and gas drilling, related road-building, and new powerlines.

Despite widespread public support for protection of Otero Mesa, and court challenges by Governor Bill Richardson and conservation groups, BLM is moving forward with authorization of oil and gas drilling in the area. In late July, the BLM leased 1,600 acres on Otero Mesa to the Harvey E. Yates Company, which has been a key challenger of environmentally protective restrictions on oil and gas on Otero Mesa. BLM is permitting flare tests of existing wells and expansion of the gathering system (the oil and gas transportation system that includes significant amounts of equipment) for existing wells without any additional environmental analysis. The agency also recently announced plans to release previously suspended leases on the Mesa, thereby allowing them to be drilled.

“The falcons’ presence should put the brakes on the BLM’s reckless pace in opening Otero Mesa to destruction by oil and gas companies,” said Oscar Simpson of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. “Keeping oil and gas out of this area is in the interests of sportsmen and the public, and we urge the feds to slow down here.”

Along with threats to wildlife, there is growing concern about the impacts from oil and gas drilling to the water supply lying underneath Otero Mesa. The one million acres of wild lands within Sierra and Otero counties that make up the mesa provide residents with endless recreational opportunities and the area’s largest and most important aquifer.

In President Bush’s signing of the energy bill earlier this month in Albuquerque, Bush underscored the need for alternative energy sources. While he has been widely criticized on his environmental policies, conservationists agree with the need to shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean, renewable energies. Governor Richardson has pledged development of alternative power sources such as solar and wind.

“The falcons on Otero Mesa are sending us a wake-up call on the need to move away from dirty fossil fuel with its brutal environmental impacts and make the shift to clean energy,” stated Dr. Nicole Rosmarino, of WildEarth Guardians. “Energy independence and saving our last remaining best places should go hand in hand.”

Documentation of the sighting, including photos, is available from Nicole Rosmarino at 719-643-5561. To prevent disturbance to the falcons, precise location information will not be disclosed.

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