For Immediate Release

December 3, 2007 

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BLM Takes Oil and Gas Leases in the Saratoga Valley Off the Table

 
The BLM today pulled 13 parcels totaling 28,500 acres in Carbon County (surrounding the community of Encampment), from the December oil and gas lease sale, in response to public outcry. In response to the threat of oil and gas leasing, the city councils of Saratoga, Riverside and Encampment had passed resolutions opposing the leases offerings as did the Carbon County Commissioners.

“The BLM showed good judgment for recognizing that the wildlife and open space values of this valley were too high to allow oil and gas leases to be sold without studying what the consequences would be,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “Governor Freudenthal, local legislators and county and city governments deserve a great deal of credit for standing firm behind the premise that oil and gas leases shouldn’t be sold in the Encampment Valley until the ramifications have been carefully studied, if at all.” Molvar said.

Joining Biodiversity Conservation Alliance’s protest were Center for Native Ecosystems, Clark Resource Council, Wyoming Wilderness Association, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Wyoming AFL-CIO. Additional groups filing separate protests of the Encampment Valley leases included the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Wyoming Audubon Society, Trout Unlimited and Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

“This is a big win for the citizens of Wyoming,” said Kim Floyd of the Wyoming AFL-CIO. “It’s a good start. Now the BLM needs to look at the rest of the protested leases and do the right thing for the habitat statewide that is so important to both wildlife and sportsmen.”

Disappointingly, many of the leases statewide affect key sage grouse breeding and nesting habitats, but instead of requiring strong protection measures, the BLM chose to apply the same old timing limitation measures that have been shown to be failures in scientific studies in the Powder River Basin and the Upper Green River Valley.

Citizens and conservation organizations opposed the Encampment leases because the area has never been studied for oil and gas development and the public had no opportunity to comment on whether the area was appropriate for drilling at all. Surface property rights of Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers were not addressed before leasing was to occur. Oil and gas drilling in this area raises important issues of water quality, municipal water supplies and impacts to blue-ribbon trout fisheries in the North Platte and Encampment Rivers. The Platt and Encampment Rivers are highly regarded for trout fishing and a major economic asset to Carbon County. Activities associated with oil and gas drilling disrupt wildlife habitat and destroy critical breeding, wintering and nesting habitat for mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and sage grouse.

“BLM is finally realizing they can’t ignore local communities and local wildlife habitat that will be negatively impacted by oil and gas,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director for the Center for Native Ecosystems. What happened in the Saratoga Valley is similar to what happened in Grand County, Colorado where local communities protested oil and gas leases and crucial sage grouse habitat was spared from the chopping block.”