CHARLESTON, W.Va. - People living near a state wildlife preserve are complaining that it is being torn up by natural gas exploration operations (fracking). The state of West Virginia does not own the mineral rights for the Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area. Therefore, like a private landowner, the state has limited ability to control activities by the three drilling companies operating on 12 large well-pads located in the game and hiking preserve.
Longtime Wetzel County resident Bill Hughes says he has repeatedly complained about problems, including runaway erosion and heavy truck traffic.
"It's a total embarrassment to the state to have these things in their own back yard. Every resident, every taxpayer in the state of West Virginia owns part of Lewis Wetzel. I want my land taken care of better than this."
State officials say they have the sites under investigation, and inspectors are due there next week.
Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Kathy Cosco says her office is treating the complaints the same way they would on any private land. Overall, she says, state regulators have been slowed by the need to hire more inspectors and put a new law signed late last year into effect.
"We've had to play catch-up. Industry and the market changed things quickly, and so quite frankly what you find is the regulation side is playing catch-up to the industry."
Hughes says one problem is the level of commotion, the traffic and industrial activity, in what should be quiet wilderness.
"Dirt, noise, diesel fumes, disturbances. I'm sure the deer are having a hard time finding a place that's a little bit of peace and quiet for them."
He says one of the big well pads, with a number of individual drilling rigs on it, has been plagued by massive erosion that has filled a nearby creek with mud.
"Tree roots and the trees just slipped on down the hill, and rainfall over the past month or two has cut another channel because the old existing creek bed is buried -- there's probably four or five foot of mud."
The drilling companies did not return calls requesting comment.
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Groups that fight to protect public lands are criticizing the Trump administration's new review of all oil, gas and mining on public lands.
National monuments in California protect about 4 million acres of land.
New U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered a 15-day internal review of these sites, which conservation groups warn could be a first step toward altering their boundaries to allow fossil-fuel and mineral extraction. And yet, Daniel Hart, director of clean-energy and climate-resiliency policy at the National Parks Conservation Association, said this would do little to address the "energy emergency" recently declared by President Donald Trump.
"The timeline from starting a lease sale until oil and gas is pumping, and then refined and into the markets, is a long time," he said. "It would not immediately do anything to lower gas prices."
In the past, Carrizo Plain National Monument on the central coast has been eyed for oil and gas development. Other national monuments in California whose boundaries could be re-evaluated include the two newest, Chuckwalla and Sattitla, along with 13 others across the state.
Hart said these public lands are crucial for wildlife habitat and recreation. He pointed out that they pump billions of dollars into the outdoor economy.
"They protect both natural and cultural resources. They are a great place for our shared histories," he said. "But also, there's a public benefit: They support the outdoor recreation economy, especially in rural states."
Across the United States, 24 million acres of public land are already leased to oil and gas companies for fossil-fuel extraction, with more than 12 million acres under active drilling. The NPCA says key monuments outside of California that risk losing protections include Devils Tower in Wyoming and the Dinosaur and Hovenweep national monuments in Utah.
Disclosure: National Parks Conservation Association contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness, Water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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As the Trump administration considers oil, gas and mining on lands owned by all Americans, including in national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act, advocates for public lands warn that some places protected for more than a century could be at risk.
Daniel Hart, director of clean energy and climate policy for the National Parks Conservation Association, says most Coloradans don't want federal protections stripped from places such as Dinosaur National Monument. He says time and again, millions of people have spoken out in defense of America's national monuments.
"They support the outdoor recreation economy, especially in rural states. Those communities nearby are heavily supported by the people who come in and out of these national monuments," he said.
The Trump administration's "Unleashing American Energy" order aims to solidify the United States as a global energy leader by removing what it calls burdensome regulations. Hart said unrestrained and speculative energy development could damage or destroy national monuments -- including Aztec Ruins, Bears Ears, Devils Tower, Hovenweep, Grand Canyon Parashant, Grand Staircase-Escalante and more.
The United States became the world's leading oil producer under the Biden administration, and Hart does not believe there is a need for opening up national monuments for drilling. Some 24 million acres of public lands are already leased to oil and gas companies for fossil-fuel extraction, yet just half are currently active.
"And some lease sales have gone without a bid over the past four years even. The oil industry didn't feel that they needed the land, or they had enough already," he added.
The National Parks Conservation Association is calling on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to take all national monuments off the table under the new order. Hart said even drilling on lands adjacent to protected areas can lead to industrial contamination of interconnected waterways.
"There's still streams and waters in the Southwest that are unusable by people and animals. That's also a problem with the wildlife, when we tear up their corridors with some of this development for energy," he concluded.
Disclosure: National Parks Conservation Association contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness, Water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
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An endangered bat species has been detected in southeastern Arizona.
Researchers say the discovery of the Mexican long-nosed bat in the Grand Canyon State expands the known range of these animals. They're important pollinators for desert plants such as columnar cactus and agave.
Kristen Lear, program director for Bat Conservation International's agave restoration program, said knowing that this endangered species has been found in Arizona opens up new avenues for research and conservation.
"Some of the work for the conservation of the species for the Mexican long-nosed bat are really two things," she said. "One is roost protection, finding the caves, the mines or wherever this bat is roosting along their migratory route and protecting those roosts. And then the second aspect is maintaining healthy foraging habitat."
Lear said the discovery of the tiny bat was made possible as project participants collected what's known as environmental DNA, or eDNA, by swabbing hummingbird feeders that bats also feed on. When bats feed, they leave traces of DNA behind through their saliva, which can then be analyzed.
As bats continue to struggle to survive because of disease and habitat loss, Lear said, it is important to study them using non-invasive methods.
Mexican long-nosed bats migrate annually from south-central Mexico to the southwestern United States, spending the summer months in southwest Texas and also in the bootheel of New Mexico. However, Lear said the bats' appearance in the Grand Canyon State could be a sign of the impacts climate change could be having on migratory practices.
"We're seeing more bat species using the edge of their ranges in areas that they aren't usually found," she said, "and so that could be what is happening here, is that climate change modeling with the agave plants, that are their food source, all of the modeling shows that that area is actually going to become more important for these bats in the future."
Lear said surveys have also increased in recent years, and it is possible the Mexican long-nosed bat has been in southeastern Arizona in low numbers but simply hadn't been detected yet. She said she wants to encourage Arizonans to plant native night-blooming plants, which attract insects for insectivorous bats to eat and agaves for nectar-feeding species, such as the Mexican long-nosed bat.
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