Interior defends drilling policies
Bush administration rebuffs biologists' plea to slow oil, gas leases
By Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
February 26, 2005
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3577684,00.html
The Bush administration's energy development policies are helping to ensure conservation of wildlife, habitat and recreation on public lands, assistant interior secretary Rebecca Watson said in a letter Thursday.
Watson's comments were in response to a letter sent last week by Trout Unlimited and signed by 55 wildlife biologists and former public land managers asking federal officials to slow down and consider the potential effects on fish and wildlife before granting oil and gas leases in the West. "The energy program reflects the administration's belief that environmentally sound energy development is important to our national security and economic well-being," Watson wrote.
"It also directly supports the Bureau of Land Management's mandate to manage resources to best meet the present and future needs of the American people."
Watson said the administration has a strong commitment to multiple use management which is reflected in the BLM's land-use plans that are developed in an "open public process and are the blue print for how all activities and resources are managed on lands managed" by the BLM.
She said President Bush made his mandate clear in the National Energy Policy when he said, "We must work to build a new harmony between energy needs and our environmental concerns.
"The truth is energy production and environmental protections are not competing priorities. They are dual aspects of a single purpose, to live well and wisely upon the earth."
David Stalling, western field coordinator for Trout Unlimited's public lands initiative and spearhead of Hunters and Anglers for Responsible Energy Development, said Friday, "Our letter calls for responsible, balanced policies.
"We have fish and wildlife biologists from all over the West who signed that letter representing hundreds of fish and wildlife biologists throughout the West who have seen impacts of oil and gas drilling on the ground and are concerned about them."
He said there is a tremendous lack of research and baseline data about how energy drilling is affecting fish and wildlife, and he doesn't think Watson's letter addresses it.
"It is one thing in a letter to say that the administration has a strong commitment and strict adherence to environmental regulations. But as we speak, there is another attempt to push through legislation in Congress that would exempt, eliminate and undermine protections for fish and wildlife," he said.
"For example, current energy legislation would exempt the energy industry from key portions of the Clean Water Act and Safe Water Act and other important protections for fish and wildlife."
Stalling said the policies that come out of the National Energy Plan being pushed through Congress further accelerate and expedite energy development on public lands. Instead of slowing down and looking at concerns, he said, the policies undermine and eliminate protections for fish and wildlife, making it even easier to keep drilling throughout our western lands.
"I'm glad they are starting to listen to our concerns, but now I want to see actions on the ground," Stalling said. "Our concerns are still the same. We feel they still are outstripping the ability to research before drilling begins."
Bush administration rebuffs biologists' plea to slow oil, gas leases
By Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
February 26, 2005
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3577684,00.html
The Bush administration's energy development policies are helping to ensure conservation of wildlife, habitat and recreation on public lands, assistant interior secretary Rebecca Watson said in a letter Thursday.
Watson's comments were in response to a letter sent last week by Trout Unlimited and signed by 55 wildlife biologists and former public land managers asking federal officials to slow down and consider the potential effects on fish and wildlife before granting oil and gas leases in the West. "The energy program reflects the administration's belief that environmentally sound energy development is important to our national security and economic well-being," Watson wrote.
"It also directly supports the Bureau of Land Management's mandate to manage resources to best meet the present and future needs of the American people."
Watson said the administration has a strong commitment to multiple use management which is reflected in the BLM's land-use plans that are developed in an "open public process and are the blue print for how all activities and resources are managed on lands managed" by the BLM.
She said President Bush made his mandate clear in the National Energy Policy when he said, "We must work to build a new harmony between energy needs and our environmental concerns.
"The truth is energy production and environmental protections are not competing priorities. They are dual aspects of a single purpose, to live well and wisely upon the earth."
David Stalling, western field coordinator for Trout Unlimited's public lands initiative and spearhead of Hunters and Anglers for Responsible Energy Development, said Friday, "Our letter calls for responsible, balanced policies.
"We have fish and wildlife biologists from all over the West who signed that letter representing hundreds of fish and wildlife biologists throughout the West who have seen impacts of oil and gas drilling on the ground and are concerned about them."
He said there is a tremendous lack of research and baseline data about how energy drilling is affecting fish and wildlife, and he doesn't think Watson's letter addresses it.
"It is one thing in a letter to say that the administration has a strong commitment and strict adherence to environmental regulations. But as we speak, there is another attempt to push through legislation in Congress that would exempt, eliminate and undermine protections for fish and wildlife," he said.
"For example, current energy legislation would exempt the energy industry from key portions of the Clean Water Act and Safe Water Act and other important protections for fish and wildlife."
Stalling said the policies that come out of the National Energy Plan being pushed through Congress further accelerate and expedite energy development on public lands. Instead of slowing down and looking at concerns, he said, the policies undermine and eliminate protections for fish and wildlife, making it even easier to keep drilling throughout our western lands.
"I'm glad they are starting to listen to our concerns, but now I want to see actions on the ground," Stalling said. "Our concerns are still the same. We feel they still are outstripping the ability to research before drilling begins."
