WildEarth Guardians

Saturday, January 5, 2008
BLM Harming Wildlife at Oil, Gas Sites

BLM Allows No Rest for Weary Wildlife
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

In a recent opinion piece, Bureau of Land Management state director Linda Rundell berated WildEarth Guardians for our recent report, “No Rest for the Weary,” in which we documented nearly 1,000 instances since 2000 where the BLM has waived seasonal closures meant to protect wildlife (“BLM Protects Wildlife Statewide,” 12/22/2007).

Rundell’s arguments seem to be “no harm, no foul.” She argues that the state’s wildlife is doing just fine, the BLM is doing a great job, and the public is not to worry.

But the wildlife species that the seasonal closures were supposed to protect are suffering greatly from disturbance and habitat destruction due to rampant oil and gas drilling.

While Rundell argues that lesser prairie-chickens are increasing on public lands, the lesser prairie-chicken is actually an imperiled species that has already declined by 90 percent. It is a formal candidate for Endangered Species Act protection, and an important factor causing its imperilment is oil and gas drilling and disturbance, particularly during spring breeding. While the birds were once widespread, BLM lands in Carlsbad currently only contain two known active lesser prairie-chicken populations. One of these contains only one male prairie-chicken.

In the Farmington area, the BLM itself notes the threats facing elk and mule deer herds as they migrate south from Colorado and enter the oil and gas apocalypse in northwest New Mexico. The habitat is so damaged and forage so limited that mule deer have taken to eating pine needles, which causes abortion and starvation. Rundell doesn’t mention pronghorn, but BLM documents reveal a tiny population that is in decline.

For the BLM to defend its behavior is simply the opposite of what is needed from federal land managers. In our report, we documented 516 exceptions granted to oil and gas companies to violate crucial spring breeding closures in the Carlsbad Field Office. In Farmington, the BLM has allowed breaching of seasonal closures meant to protect elk, mule deer and pronghorn at least 441 times. All of our information came from a Freedom of Information Act request to the agency.

The oddest part of the BLM’s scolding opinion piece is Rundell’s argument that the public is afforded ample opportunity for input on federal lands management. Over 90 percent of new wells in Farmington are being approved without any input from the public. Quarterly lease sales do not include a National Environmental Policy Act process, which would provide for public comment. This is despite extensive areas being leased. For instance, in the upcoming sale, the BLM has proposed to lease 116,000 acres in New Mexico. Once the leases are issued, the agency often says that its hands are tied on preventing wells from being drilled.

The BLM’s exclusion of the public is most obvious when it comes to exceptions to wildlife closures. For instance, in September 2003, the Farmington office of the BLM approved a land-use management plan that allowed nearly 10,000 additional wells. In that plan, BLM promised the public a key mitigation: seasonal wildlife closures over 350,000 acres. Yet, one month after the Farmington plan was approved, the agency developed a process for granting exceptions without any public notice or public comment. Not one of the 441 exceptions granted by BLM in Farmington has included public notice. Indeed, there is simply no time: sometimes the exceptions are granted the same day as a company’s request.

While the BLM has accused WildEarth Guardians of shying away from dialogue, the agency shows its true colors by closing out us and the rest of the public at every step.

What is curiously missing from Rundell’s piece are previous arguments from the BLM (“Conservationists Blast BLM Exceptions to Wildlife Protections” 12/10/07) that the exceptions granted are generally innocuous, for environmental protection (such as pit closures), and short-term.

Perhaps Rundell realized that these claims were dead-ends. Every year, many exceptions in Farmington are granted for new wells, roads and pipelines - activities that no reasonable person could call routine or environmentally beneficial. In contrast, pit closures seldom show up in the BLM’s database of exceptions.

We have documented in “No Rest for the Weary” that some exceptions are long-term (multiple months or weeks) and that exceptions have been granted in every month of the primary closure (from December-March) since the Farmington plan was approved.

What a missed opportunity by Rundell, who is a trained biologist. When you make a mistake nearly 1,000 times, why not fess up and make amends? Rather than seizing on an opportunity to clean up her agency’s act, she has circled the wagons. Rundell is also sending a clear message that the BLM will not adopt enlightened policies on wildlife and ecosystem protection any time soon - and not without steady pressure from the public.

Copyright 2008 Albuquerque Journal - Reprinted with permission