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Groups sue to block new Los Padres drilling
Few acres would be affected, agencies say
| Tuesday, Apr 24 2007 10:40 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Apr 24 2007 10:43 PM
Three environmental groups have sued to stop the U.S. Forest Service's plans to increase by about tenfold the amount of land leased for oil and gas drilling in the southern portion of the Los Padres National Forest.
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The complaint, filed Monday, alleges the Forest Service did not properly assess the potential impacts on wildlife and recreation that opening an additional 52,000 of the forest's 1.7 million acres to oil and gas production would create.
Drilling has been allowed in some parts of the forest for more than a century.
In 2005, the Forest Service approved a plan to increase the acreage available for gas and oil leasing and auctions were slated to take place later this year.
Environmental groups said they decided to sue after a January oil spill by an Occidental Petroleum subsidiary that bled 800 gallons of oil into a nearby creek.
"It shows they can't even control oil spills on existing oil fields in the forest," said Jeff Kuyper of Los Padres ForestWatch, one of the groups suing.
The January spill, caused by a burst pipe due to cold weather, has already prompted the forest service and the Bureau of Land Management to put on hold oil and gas lease auctions later this year. But both agencies expect the auctions will occur eventually.
"Right now, the national policy is to encourage domestic production to reduce dependence on foreign oil, so barring any changes to the situation, we would go ahead with the nominations," said David Christy, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, which administers the oil and gas leases on public lands.
Forest officials estimate 17 million barrels of oil could be produced on the newly opened lands over the next 10 to 15 years, which environmental groups say is just one day's worth of the country's energy needs.
Los Padres spokeswoman Kathy Good said she couldn't comment on the lawsuit but the decision to open new forest lands to drilling came from a 1987 mandate that officials at all national forests look for possible oil and gas leasing.
"The national forest is used for a variety of uses including mineral development," Good said. "We thought we could do this in an ecologically sound manner and make a contribution to the nation's energy needs."
Of the 52,000 acres that could be leased, only 4,300 would have provisions for wells and other facilities to be built on surface land. Oil and gas in other areas would have to be accessed by off-site slant drills located on unprotected or private land. In all, Good said, it's estimated that only about 21 acres would be disturbed by new oil wells, pipelines and access roads.
Still, the environmental groups say, oil from the January spill reportedly traveled three miles down a creek, a concern because endangered California condors drink and bathe about six miles downstream from the spill.
No condors were affected by the spill, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, who operate the condor sanctuary that borders several properties leased for oil and gas drilling. But drilling operations in the forest have threatened the endangered bird, they said.
The department has documented numerous incidents of condors getting covered in oil after landing on an oil pad or coming into contact with equipment over the years, officials said.
"The issue with condors are that they're extremely curious," said Jesse Grantham, California condor coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "If you look back through the evolutionary history of this animal, activity meant the possibility of food. We assume that's why they're attracted to the (oil production) activity that's going on there."