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April 10, 2006
ADMINISTRATION REJECTS
FORESWATCH APPEAL OF OIL DRILLING EXPANSION PLAN FOR LOS PADRES
FOREST
Agency Also
Denies Appeal Filed by the California Attorney General; Drilling
May Proceed on 52,075 Acres of Forest
The U.S. Forest
Service today denied an appeal filed by ForestWatch that would
have halted the expansion of oil drilling in the Los Padres
National Forest. The agency also denied a separate appeal filed
by the California Attorney General's Office.
 The appeal
challenged a July 2005 plan that allowed oil drilling to expand
across an additional 52,075 acres of land in the Los Padres
National Forest. The plan threatens popular recreation areas,
wilderness, clean air and water, and habitat for several
endangered plants and animals, including the California condor,
one of the world's most endangered birds.
The plan allowed new oil drilling
in some of the most sensitive areas of the forest, for little
benefit. According to the agency's own estimates, new oil
drilling in the Los Padres would yield 17 million barrels of oil
- less than a day's supply of oil at our nation's current
consumption rate, according to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration. The
decision allows surface drilling along the boundaries of three
Congressionally-designated wilderness areas, the Sespe Condor
Sanctuary, and the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
 Slant
drilling is allowed beneath portions of Sespe Creek and Piru
Creek that are eligible for protection under the Wild & Scenic
Rivers Act. The plan also targets the Sierra Madre Ridge in
Santa Barbara County's Cuyama Valley, which federal biologists
have called an "Area of High Ecological Significance" because of
the region's abundance of rare plants and animals.
During the public comment period for the plan, the Forest
Service received 7,800 comments from the public. A vast majority
of these comments - 99% - opposed new oil drilling in the Los
Padres. Several local, state, and national legislators
have joined in this opposition, including Congresswoman Lois
Capps, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein,
Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Santa Barbara County Supervisors
Susan Rose and Salud Carbajal, and the Ventura County Board of
Supervisors.
One
of the proposed new drilling sites in the Upper Ojai Valley. ©
LPFW, Inc. What's Next
The agency's denial of our appeal
comes as no surprise, as this administration has made it easier
than ever for oil companies to exploit our public lands. Places
like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Rocky Mountain
Front, Wyoming's Powder River Basin, Colorado's Roan Plateau,
New Mexico's Valle Vidal, and Utah's red rock canyons are all
coming under increasing pressure by oil companies. Now, the Los
Padres National Forest right in our own backyard can be added to
this list.
Filing an appeal is the first step
before a lawsuit can be filed to halt this proposal for good. ForestWatch is carefully analyzing the decision
and evaluating our next steps.
EPA Still
Has Serious Concerns About Plan
When the agency released its draft
drilling plan in 2001, the federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) reviewed it and expressed grave concerns about the
impacts to air quality, water quality, and wildlife. The agency
wrote: "EPA objects to
this lease proposal on the grounds that both Preferred
Alternatives 5 and 5(a) are expected to result in significant
short-term, and potentially long-term, ozone impacts in Ventura
and Santa Barbara Counties, even with mitigation. The Santa
Barbara APCD is in serious nonattainment for the national ozone
standard, and the Ventura APCD is in severe nonattainment for
the national ozone standard. In addition, both APCDs are in
nonattainment for the State standards for ozone and particulate
matter greater than 10 microns in diameter (PM10). EPA has
objections because the projected short-term project emissions
for nitrogen oxide (NOx), an ozone precursor, and PM10, are
several orders of magnitude greater than the established air
quality significance criterion."
 The
EPA also addressed the Forest Service's assertion that the
drilling plan would protect wildlife: "These assertions are
premature in that site-specific analyses have not been
conducted... Threatened and endangered species within the
project area may indeed suffer long-term, negative cumulative
impacts through full oil and gas development on Los Padres
National Forest in combination with other activities undertaken
in and around the forest. Any statement at this time
regarding the cumulative or irreversible/irretrievable impacts
to threatened or endangered species is premature and
potentially misleading to the public."
The EPA also suggested several
measures to incorporate into the final oil drilling plan, but
the Forest Service ignored most of these recommendations. After
the agency released its final drilling plan in July 2005, and
after ForestWatch filed its appeal, the EPA continued to voice
strong concerns over the proposal, stating that "EPA remains
concerned that the new proposed alternative could result in
significant short-term, and potentially long-term, ozone impacts
in the project area, even with mitigation." (letter from EPA
to Los Padres National Forest Supervisor, dated October 24,
2005). |
