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An energy company's proposal to drill for oil and gas beneath a national
wildlife refuge in Colorado cannot proceed until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service conducts a formal environmental analysis, a federal judge ruled last
week.
FWS worked with the company, Canadian-based Lexam Explorations, to establish
restrictions to protect migratory birds and wetlands during the drilling of two
14,000-foot test wells. But the agency did not conduct a formal environmental
review, with the opportunity for public comment, which environmental groups
argued was required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The San Luis
Ecosystem Council filed suit last summer to force FWS to conduct a full NEPA
analysis.
Judge Walker Miller agreed with the council, ruling Nov. 28 that FWS "shall
prohibit all ground-disturbing activities related to the exploration and
development of the mineral estate underlying the Baca National Wildlife Refuge
during the National Environmental Policy Act process."
Christine Canaly of the San Luis Ecosystem Council applauded the judge's
decision, saying it simply makes sense for FWS to undertake a thorough
environmental review. She said that drilling could harm the new refuge's
sensitive wetlands and taint the aquifer beneath the refuge, which was
established in part to protect water resources. In the 1990s, when the land was
still known as Baca Ranch, a private company wanted to purchase the water rights
and sell the water.
"The public owns these lands now, and the public deserves to have some kind
of process where they can express their concerns," she said. "We're talking two
14,000-foot wells. They're literally going to the aquifer's floor."
The 92,500-acre refuge was created by Congress in 2000 and established in
2003 after a complex series of land transfers and purchases involving BLM lands
and the private Baca Ranch. But the mineral rights remained in private
ownership.
Canaly said drilling in the refuge would undermine FWS's mission to protect
the lands. FWS's interim management plan for the refuge says it was created for
the purpose of "restoring, enhancing and maintaining wetland, upland, riparian
and other habitats for wildlife, plants and fish species that are native to the
San Luis Valley."
Refuge managers are still working on the management plan for the refuge, and
it is not yet open to the general public.
The drilling proposal is also opposed by area residents in the eclectic
Crestone/Baca community, where ranchers, artists and Buddhist monks coexist. The
community is about a mile from the proposed drilling sites, according to the
council.
'We can't stop this'
But refuge manager Ron Garcia noted that the company owns the mineral rights
and has a legal right to access any oil and gas that may lie beneath the refuge.
FWS is also bound by a surface agreement established between the company and the
land's previous owners, he added.
"We can't stop this, but we can do everything we can to make sure our
concerns are addressed," Garcia said.
The company has agreed not to undertake road construction or drilling during
the summer months, when wetlands and wildlife are most sensitive to disturbance,
and to reclaim and re-contour the well sites and a mile of new road that will be
constructed for the operation, he said. Lexam will also have to dig monitoring
wells to make sure drilling is not harming water quality, he added. Furthermore,
FWS has asked the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which is charged
with issuing drilling permits, to include stipulations that require Lexam to
encase the well bores in cement to prevent any leakage into the aquifer.
Lexam Explorations officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Typically, national wildlife refuges are given permitting authority for
activities on the refuge in the law that creates them. But in the rush to
protect the Baca Ranch as a refuge and protect its water, that provision was
overlooked, Garcia said.
"With most refuges, you build it right into the deed, so most refuges aren't
put in this situation," he said. "With this one, there was an urgency to
acquiring the land, and that just didn't get negotiated into the deed."
FWS had actually begun crafting an environmental assessment last summer,
after environmental groups and citizens expressed their concerns about the lack
of a formal NEPA process, he added. The EA will be issued next week, Garcia
said, adding that it will include many of the same requirements that the company
has already agreed to.
If the assessment determines that there would be no significant impact from
the drilling, the organization likely will file suit to try to force the agency
to conduct a full EIS, Canaly said.
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