BLM Kemmerer Plan Protested
Monday, September 29, 2008
Lander, WY – Three conservation and public health groups have filed a protest against the new Kemmerer oil and gas drilling plan recently proposed by the Bureau of Land Management(BLM). The groups' chief concerns include expected increases in air pollution and decreases in bird populations. The BLM already has documented that the region is out of compliance with ozone regulations due to drilling operations.
Bruce Pendery, program director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, says the plan doesn't address that issue. Also, he adds, the plan is at odds with the governor's executive order to protect sage grouse and keep it off the Endangered Species List.
"They need to adopt those measures, in addition to any other protections they have, to ensure the best protection possible for that bird."
The Western Governors Association recently approved the Wildlife Corridors Initiative, with the goal of moving development to respect wildlife habitats. Pendery says that obviously was not considered in the Kemmerer plan.
"We think that if the BLM were to more fully consider, and abide, by the governors' policy for protecting crucial wildlife habitats, they would recognize it would be more appropriate."
Backers of the Kemmerer plan point out it does protect individual, known sage grouse nesting sites. But, Pendery counters, isolating each area in that way is not full protection. He says nesting zones must be untouched by development in order to protect them, and that may be accomplished by shifting oil and gas drilling zones.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance are joining the Wyoming Outdoor Council in filing the petition.
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