News for Immediate Release June 20, 2007 Contact: Dwayne Meadows, 307-760-6802, dmeadows@trcp.org TRCP Appeals Federal Plans to Accelerate Energy Development on Wyoming’s Atlantic Rim Group contends planning documents flawed, sees clear violation of multiple-use mandate WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) today announced that it has appealed a recently announced decision by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that clears the way for 2,000 new oil and gas wells in one of Wyoming’s most popular hunting regions along the Atlantic Rim. “The BLM is officially telling hunters that wildlife, hunting and outfitting will have to go elsewhere for at least a generation,” said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda, who lives in Boulder, Wyo. “The recent decision promises the same old weak approach to monitoring damage to wildlife as development proceeds. That hasn’t worked at other drilling fields like those in nearby Pinedale because no changes were made in field operations as losses of mule deer and sage grouse were documented. It looks like wildlife and the needs of sportsmen and -women are again playing second fiddle to extraction at any cost.” "In this decision, BLM has ignored the needs and concerns of sportsmen, hikers, wildlife-watchers, ranchers and other local citizens who have used Atlantic Rim and value it highly," said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe of Daniel, Wyo., a TRCP Board member. "Even after extensive communication with officials within and above BLM at the Department of the Interior, we see the same heavy-handed development coming at us. This decision admits likely severe damage, yet offers no new thinking about how to avoid or lessen the impacts to wildlife.” Among the shortcomings that the TRCP will highlight before the Interior Board of Land Appeals is an over-reliance on mitigation to offset impacts from energy development. “The first tenet of mitigation is supposed to be avoidance of essential habitat wherever possible,” said Belinda. “It’s tough to see where such a consideration ever entered the agency’s planning. This is single-purpose use of the public lands, not multiple-use with care for other resources.” The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the “FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.” Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing. |