Press Room

Press Release

For Immediate Release
October 10, 2006
For more information contact:
Steve Belinda, (307) 537-3135

Sportsmen Offer Initial Reaction to U.S. District Judge's Decision on New Mexico's Otero Mesa

PINEDALE, WYO. - The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today offered its reaction to a decision issued by U.S. District Judge Bruce Black on oil and gas leasing and development in New Mexico’s Otero Mesa, an important area for wildlife resources. The coalition of hunting, fishing and conservation organizations is relieved that the judge ruled that a thorough environmental analysis must be conducted before any drilling leases are sold.

“Fish and wildlife resources and recreational and historical sites should be identified in advance of leasing through a well-documented, highly-publicized process,” said Steve Belinda, a TRCP policy initiative manager. “Given the high profile of the Otero Mesa and its wildlife resources, the BLM should go beyond just 'scoping' and pro forma public processes before leasing. The BLM must take the lead and call together the public and other interests to explore opportunities to avoid specific problems prior to decisions about leasing, as well as afterwards, as problems arise."

"Implementation is the key to success, and we don’t know if the BLM's plan for the Otero Mesa goes far enough to protect habitats for pronghorn, mule deer and grassland birds," said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, Chair of the TRCP Fish, Wildlife and Energy Working Group. "The BLM needs to work with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the conservation community to establish a monitoring program that will collect baseline data on wildlife populations and habitats prior to energy development and then measure the impacts that occur after development has begun,” said Sparrowe. “We also would like to see the agency focus on the use of less-harmful extraction techniques, like directional drilling, and multiple wells on each well pad. But without a process for monitoring impacts to wildlife and adjusting mineral development based on those impacts, we always will be reacting to what is happening rather than trying to avoid impacts altogether. We will not know for quite a while whether the wildlife protections and management in the Otero Mesa plan are successful – and then it may be too late to do anything about it.”

"The BLM should include in all leases a standard stipulation that preserves the government’s flexibility to control and, if necessary, to prohibit activities on leases that prove to pose risks to important fish, wildlife, and water resources," said Tom Franklin, Conservation Director of the Izaak Walton League of America and member of the Fish, Wildlife and Energy Working Group. "If, for whatever reason, an area is leased in the absence of sound information on fish, wildlife, and water resources, then the BLM might decide to address site-specific information in the Application-for-Permit-to-Drill (APD) process. Unfortunately, by the time the APD process is under way, energy companies often are viewed by the BLM as maintaining a “right” to develop energy resources," said Franklin. "Consequently, habitat and other resource conservation measures often are perceived as implying a federal 'taking' of a private right."

Belinda, Franklin, Sparrowe and the working group will be monitoring the process of oil and gas leasing and development on the Otero Mesa through the lens of the “Energy FACTS for Fish and Wildlife,” a set of guiding principles for balancing energy development and the needs of fish and wildlife populations. These principles were developed by looking towards the future and how the management of fish and wildlife can be balanced with energy development on public lands. This test will be applied to all new major federal proposals for energy development in areas of importance to hunters and anglers.

The FACTS call for immediate increases in:

Funding provided to federal fish and wildlife conservation efforts in areas facing energy development,
Accountability throughout the mineral leasing and drilling oversight processes,
Coordination with the public and amongst federal land-management agencies,
Transparency throughout the federal planning process, and
Science as the basis for all decision-making mitigation on energy development.

“The fish and wildlife of the West are too important to lose, but that’s what happens when ample protections and proactive management for them are not adequately built into plans like that for the Otero Mesa,” Belinda said. "Our working group members, and the hunters and anglers they represent, are working to make sure that fish and wildlife get the consideration they need in special places like the Otero Mesa. Hunting, fishing, and other recreation on public lands are as important as developing minerals. They should be given just consideration.”

The Fish, Wildlife and Energy Working Group includes representatives from several of the nation’s leading hunting, fishing and conservation organizations. To learn more, please visit: http://www.trcp.org/ch_energydevelopment.aspx.

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The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is a coalition of leading hunting, fishing and conservation organizations and individual partners working together to guarantee access to places to hunt and fish, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, and increase funding for conservation.

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