For the full report go to
http://publiclands.tu.org/pdf/TU_Oil_Gas_HI.pdfFACT SHEET
Gas and Oil Development on Western Public Lands
Impacts on Fish, Wildlife, Angling and HuntingTrout Unlimited – through its Public Lands Initiative - produced this report to document the potential effects to fish and wildlife from energy development on millions of acres of public lands in the Rocky Mountain West. Currently, 32 million acres of public land is under lease for gas and oil development, translating into more than 110,000 permitted natural gas well, with more than 10,000 new wells approved by the Bureau of Land Management in the last three years.
Economic Impacts:According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are 47 million hunters and anglers in America. In 2001, wildlife-associated recreation – which includes hunting, fishing, viewing, and other related activities – generated over $100 billion in economic activity, or roughly 1 percent of GDP.
The Rocky Mountain states of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico attract nearly 9 million people each year for wildlife and fish recreation, generating over $5 billion each year for those states’ economies.
Fisheries Impacts:More than 15 percent of all trout habitat in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico falls within areas containing gas and oil reserves where production could occur.
Some 50 percent of Yellowstone cutthroat trout habitat, 40 percent of Bonneville and fine-spotted cutthroat trout habitat and 20 percent of Colorado River cutthroat trout habitat lies in areas targeted for production of gas and oil.
A study on Montana’s Tongue River, located in the Powder River basin, shows a dramatic decline – as high as 70 percent -- in mayflies, caddisflies, dragonflies, and other macroinvertabrates caused by discharges of polluted water from coal bed methane wells. When insects disappear, fish are soon to follow.
Big Game and Upland Bird Impacts:27,000,000 acres, or 52 percent of Wyoming’s elk habitat falls within areas of potential gas and oil development.
9, 600,000 acres, or 30 percent of Colorado’s pronghorn antelope habitat falls within areas of potential gas and oil development.
3,000,000 acres, or 43.5 percent of Utah’s sage grouse habitat falls within areas of potential gas and oil development.
National Energy Policy: streamlined permitting process and compromised wildlife protections:On millions of acres of prime fish and wildlife habitat throughout the Rockies, the government is issuing leases to gas and oil drillers before completing required plans to manage wildlife, fisheries and other public resources.
One of President Bush’s top domestic policy objectives is to open more public lands in the Rocky Mountain West to oil and gas development. In the spring of 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy Development Group recommended dropping wildlife protections in natural gas reserve areas. In the summer of 2003, the White House set up a special task force to reduce protections for wildlife and fisheries – referred to as “impediments to oil and gas development” in policy documents – to speed up energy extraction in seven wild basins across the West.
Portions of the National Energy Bill could codify the misguided wildlife policy that drastically reduces protections for wildlife, wild streams and fisheries on millions of acres in the seven western basins: the Powder River basin (MT, WY), the Upper Green River basin (WY), the Rocky Mountain Front (MT), the Roan Plateau (CO), the San Juan basin (CO, NM) the Valle Vidal (NM) and Otero Mesa (NM).
On the whole I thought that the story was really heavy handed, but to make the point that our planet is so very fragile, the story has to be. It definitely scared me to think that everything can change overnight.
Please include your name, city, and how you wish to participate.
