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Welcome to Western Resource Advocates' Lands Program! Here, you'll find updates and information about our recent work and achievements. You can use the buttons to the right for more information about the Lands Program's top four project areas. |
WRA: LandsLands Program News:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) removed six disputed parcels from an oil and gas lease auction after WRA challenged the inclusion of these parcels located in a black-footed ferret reintroduction area. WRA argued that BLM needed to consult with wildlife experts and consider the most recent scientific data on how leasing could impact the reintroduced population of the ferret, the most endangered mammal in North America. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to bring endangered ferret populations back to self-sustaining levels. The BLM agreed with WRA’s assessment. This marks WRA’s third consecutive victory for the black-footed ferret. According to Lands Program Director Mike Chiropolos, “we’re heartened that, under Secretary Salazar, BLM is recognizing the need for sound scientific review before offering leases. Under the prior administration, we were forced to litigate these cases before the Department of Interior’s appeals board to win protections for the ferret.” WRA brought the case on behalf of Center for Native Ecosystems and the Colorado Environmental Coalition. (Posted 05/15/09) The Interior Board of Land Appeals(IBLA) agreed with WRA that the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately protect historical sites in Utah's Red Rock country when issuing grazing leases. Click here to read more on the decision. WRA contested and prevailed over the State of Utah's claim to be able to hide records from public view regarding the state's claim to rights of way over federal lands. For more on this case, click here. In late September, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) approved a sweeping set of new rules governing oil and gas drilling in the state. This broad set of reforms will require the oil and gas industry to implement new safeguards to better protect Colorado’s water supplies, air quality, lands, and wildlife. Although substantial compromise was required by all participants in the rulemaking process, the end result is improved protection from the activities of a booming energy industry. After his election, Governor Bill Ritter changed the make-up of the COGCC, turning it from a board dominated by the industry to one more representative of other perspectives. The new commission responded to citizen concerns about the failure of outmoded oil and gas drilling rules to protect the state from the negative environmental and social impacts of an extraordinary drilling boom. WRA attorneys represented a coalition of environmental groups in the rulemaking proceedings and played a large role in providing expert testimony and battling industry efforts to water down or eliminate needed protections. Among the changes in the rules were measures to protect drinking water and wildlife habitat, control odor and dust, and require disclosure of toxic chemicals used in the drilling process. Rules regarding the safety of open waste pits, which often contain toxic substances, were deferred for future deliberations. Colorado’s approach of reassessing a broad array of regulations all at once sets a precedent for other states similarly confronting drilling booms. Some of the approved rules break new ground, while others bring Colorado closer to the protections imposed by neighboring states WRA successfully challenged the inclusion of 145,000 acres of Rio Grande National Forest in a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease sale, forcing the withdrawal of that acreage from the sale. The Rio Grande National Forest is not known to have extensive oil and gas resources. The lease proposal shocked local residents, who questioned its size as well as the inclusion of high-value forestlands in an area with questionable oil and gas deposits. WRA successfully argued that the federal agencies had not carried out any analysis of the environmental impacts of drilling in the forest since 1995, when only 23 additional wells were planned. The proposed leasing of more than 145,000 acres could result in hundreds, if not thousands, of wells. The impacts to the forest of this monumental increase in drilling had not been considered by the BLM. The BLM rescinded the lease sale until a more thorough analysis can be done. “Not leasing now was the right decision,” said WRA Lands Program Director Mike Chiropolos. “By stepping back to ‘look before it leaps,’ the Forest Service avoided repeating the mistakes it has made on other National Forests across the Rockies.” The initial lease sale, which was scheduled to occur on May 8th, put more than 175,000 acres up for lease in 14 Colorado counties. The vast majority of these lands were in the Rio Grande National Forest, which had not had a single acre leased for oil and gas drilling since 1994. Roan Plateau Protection
Underneath the Roan are the "unconventional" natural gas deposits of the Piceance Basin, locked in tight sandstone formations that must be fractured to allow the gas to flow toward the well. The BLM projects that industry will drill 3,693 new wells above the rim of the Roan Plateau, and 13,495 wells in the Roan Plateau Planning Area. While WRA recognizes that oil and gas development may be appropriate on some public lands, we assert that the top of the Roan Plateau should not be compromised. In 2008, the BLM made a unilateral decision to issue oil and gas leases on the entire 55,000 acres of undeveloped public land on the Roan, jeopardizing this landmark’s natural beauty and wildlife habitats. The BLM ruling came despite requests by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar, Reps. John Salazar and Randy Udall, numerous local governments and tens of thousands of protests from citizens and advocacy groups to lease the land in phases to minimize damage to the Roan. WRA fights for long-term protection:
Please check back regularly for updates. For more information, visit the “Save the Roan” website. Photo courtesy of Colorado Environmental Coalition. Other Recent DevelopmentsWYOMING: Protecting Sage Grouse Habitat in Pinedale Resource AreaWRA is working closely with Audubon to protect Wyoming's greater sage-grouse from impacts caused by oil and gas development, specifically by:
WYOMING: Limiting Air Pollution in Pinedale Gas FieldsWRA is partnering with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition to ensure that emissions from increased oil and gas activities in the booming Pinedale Anticline field do not contribute to further degradation of visibility in Class I wilderness areas, cause air quality violations or unhealthy levels of ground level ozone. Pinedale, a rural Wyoming town with a population of less than 2,000, has experienced ground-level ozone pollution worse than Los Angeles at times due to excessive emissions produced by oil and gas drilling activities. WYOMING: Stopping Drilling Contamination in PavillionPavillion is a small farming community in central Wyoming experiencing rapid growth in oil and gas drilling. Because of air and water contamination problems resulting from the drilling activity, WRA is working with local groups to press Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality for stronger controls on oil and gas production facilities to protect the health of local residents. WYOMING: Providing Citizens with Information on Toxic Drilling ChemicalsWRA is assisting the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) and coalition of individuals and organizations across Wyoming to gain access to information about chemicals used by the oil and gas industry under the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know law. A number of toxic chemicals can be used in the oil and gas drilling process and citizens can be exposed to them through spills, vapors and water wells contaminated through " fracing," a process that breaks apart tight underground formations using chemicals, water, sand and extreme hydraulic pressure. WYOMING: Human Health Needs to Factor into Oil and Gas Drilling ExpansionWRA, local citizens and grass roots groups in Pinedale and Pavillion are working to persuade the BLM to prepare Health Impact Assessments for large natural gas development projects proposed on public lands. These assessments will take into account the human public health and environmental health impacts of Wyoming's explosive growth in oil and gas drilling. Area residents have felt the detrimental effects to local air and water quality due to the drilling. With proposals to more than double the current number of wells in the Pinedale Anticline in the works, Wyoming residents are pressing to have their health concerns taken into account in the decision-making process. NEW MEXICO: FarmingtonThe Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office in the Four Corners region is a poster child for how not to manage federal lands for energy development. Farmington has become a worst-case scenario of letting the oil and gas industry have free rein over how and where to drill, regardless of impacts on other resources. Though lax policies were rampant under the p[revious administration, Farmington continues to operate as a rogue office by refusing to institute common-sense management strategies, such as “Geographic Area Planning,” that would require that industry plan future development over larger landscapes and multi-year periods. The result is an ecosystem on the verge of collapse. Farmington gives lip service to reform while failing to achieve even a semblance of “multiple-use, sustained yield” management on the ground. Western Resource Advocates challenged the area’s 2003 Resource Management Plan Amendment in federal District Court because the plan proposal’s to increase drilling by 50% would come at the expense of the region’s world class cultural resources, wildlife habitat, and air pollution quality -- in an area that already experiences serious health impacts from ozone emissions. While the District Court issued an adverse ruling in November, 2008, WRA and other plaintiffs have an appeal pending before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The disputed Plan authorized drilling nearly 10,000 new oil and gas wells on top of more than 20,000 active wells. The staggering drilling increase threatens Native American cultural and historic values; the ability of ranchers and others to make a living off the land; hunting, fishing and other recreational uses; and the region’s water and air quality. WRA is representing a unique coalition of individual ranchers, Eastern Navajo Chapters, Native American interests, and conservation groups united by their determination to ensure that future oil and gas development in northwestern New Mexico proceeds in accordance with federal laws and responsibilities. In addition to seeking relief from the courts, we are presenting policy makers with common-sense proposals to reform oil and gas management by employing state-of-the-art technologies and planning approaches to bring this field into the 21st Century. (Updated 5/12/09) COLORADO: Leasing in Citizens-Proposed WildernessThe Bureau of Land Management is leasing Colorado’s natural treasures with breakneck speed, notwithstanding citizen efforts to identify and protect landscapes with outstanding wilderness and recreational values. These lands were included in the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2003, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette, which would permanently protect them from uses that would compromise wilderness character -- such as oil and gas leasing, exploration, and development. When the Bureau of Land Management leases these parcels, the lands become burdened with new mineral development rights and will lose their wilderness character as development occurs. The Bureau of Land Management consistently offers for lease nearly every parcel nominated by industry. In doing so, the Bureau of Land Management refuses to conduct further environmental review and fails to consider alternatives that could protect surface resources, such as prohibiting surface-disturbing activities or requiring the use of directional drilling. WRA has appealed several of these leasing decisions on behalf of local and national conservation groups, in the hopes that Colorado’s wild landscapes might remain intact. If the Bureau of Land Management proceeds with its aggressive leasing program, Colorado’s mid and lower-elevation wilderness lands will be seriously diminished before Congress can properly consider permanent protection. UTAH: Responsible Motorized RecreationTo protect pristine forest habitat from the tide of ORV (Off-Road Vehicle) abuse, we are using the: 1) the travel planning process, which is currently underway in the Ogden Ranger District of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the Fishlake National Forest, and 2) the petition process, which allows citizen groups to seek the closure of environmentally-damaging routes and trails. Most recently, we filed an administrative appeal on behalf of the Ogden Chapter of the Sierra Club. As a result, the Forest Service withdrew its Travel Plan opening new ORV routes and designating a 500 mile trail network across the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The Forest Service cited the District Ranger’s failure to analyze adequately cumulative environmental impacts as the basis for the remand for further environmental review. At issue are roadless areas, wildlife habitat, water quality and opportunities for quiet recreation. UTAH: R.S. 2477WRA wants to ensure that R.S. 2477 does not become the knife that cuts through Utah’s forest habitats. We contribute to a regional effort to prevent use of the repealed statute to open up new routes in sensitive areas. First, we use Utah’s open records law to gain access to documents and other records. Second, we take work to prevent bogus R.S. 2477 rights-of-way claims on Utah’s National Forests. Already, we have used Utah’s open records law to get an order requiring the Utah Attorney General’s Office to release records related to 20 routes claimed as “highways” under R.S. 2477 by Utah and its counties. Continuing our efforts to protect Utah’s wild places from willy-nilly and unsubstantiated R.S. 2477 claims, we are before the Utah Court of Appeals arguing that records maintained about R.S. 2477 rights-of-way pursuant to state statute should be available to the public. UTAH: BLM Oil and Gas LeasingWRA's objective is to protect sensitive National Forest lands in Utah from oil and gas drilling, and to strictly condition drilling in those areas where it occurs. Our efforts to date have saved almost 50,000 acres of the Manti-La Sal National Forest from oil and gas leasing, but leases for approximately 105,000 acres in other Utah National Forests have been approved and leases for 60,000 acres more are pending. Many of these threatened areas are roadless. Recently, however, a federal district court in California rejected the Bush Administration’s “State Petition” rule and reinstated the Clinton-era Roadless Rule. This means that over four million acres of Utah’s most intact forest ecosystems may be spared from oil and gas development. WRA will continue to our work to ensure that the Roadless Rule is enforced in Utah and that the Forest Service properly considers environmental impacts before it leases our most pristine Forest lands for oil and gas development. |
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The Roan Plateau is a vital area of great beauty that supports diverse wildlife, including essential stream habitat for Colorado’s purest populations of cutthroat trout and crucial winter range for big game herds estimated at 13,000 deer and 9,000 elk. The Roan is a broad plateau towering thousands of feet above the Colorado River valley near Rifle, stretching over to the White River basin to the north near Meeker. It is a rare island of biodiversity that is special among the vast forests of Colorado.