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April 20, 2008
Oil Company Reveals Additional
Details for EXPLORATION on the Carrizo Plain
Dynamite or
Giant Thumper Trucks Would Damage this Ecologically Sensitive
Area; ForestWatch Demands Preparation of a Full Environmental
Impact Study
San Luis Obispo County, Calif.
- ForestWatch has learned additional details about an oil
company's plans to explore for oil in the heart of the Carrizo
Plain National Monument, a critical ecological area that was set
aside in 2001 to protect one of the last remnants of grasslands
remaining in this region. The Carrizo Plain National Monument is
adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest in southeastern San
Luis Obispo County, and is home to one of the highest
concentrations of rare and endangered plants and animals in
California.
Earlier this month, the oil
company - Vintage Production LLC, a subsidiary of Occidental
Petroleum - filed a formal "Notice of Intent" to conduct
geophysical operations on the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
ForestWatch and a coalition of
statewide and national conservation organizations wrote a letter
to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the agency charged with
overseeing the monument and approving any exploration. Our
letter demanded that the BLM prepare a full Environmental Impact
Statement before authorizing any exploration activities.
"We, the undersigned groups,
are writing to express our concerns over plans to explore for
oil and gas within the Carrizo Plain National Monument (the
"Monument"), including the recent request from Vintage
Production to conduct geophysical exploration. Given the special
context of the Monument, we urge and expect the BLM to conduct
an Environmental Impact Statement on any and all such proposals
and to apply rigorous protections to fulfill the requirements of
the Monument Proclamation and other applicable federal laws,"
said the groups in their letter.
The red line in the
middle of the map indicates the proposed five-mile
exploration line through the heart of the Carrizo Plain National
Monument.
Vintage's
Notice of Intent
In a Notice
of Intent filed on March 11, 2008, Vintage Production revealed
additional details about its plans to explore for oil in this
ecologically critical area. According to the notice, Vintage
wants to conduct exploration activities along a five-mile
stretch of the Carrizo Plain National Monument's valley floor.
Vintage would use either dynamite or giant thumper trucks to
create sound waves, and sophisticated equipment would be used to
detect areas underground that might contain oil deposits.
If these methods indicate
the presence of oil, then more precise data is obtained by
drilling exploratory ("wildcat") wells, and eventually, an oil
well is drilled to bring the oil to the surface for processing.
The first
option would involve four large vibrator trucks, commonly called
"thumper trucks." Weighing as much as 64,000 pounds, thumper
trucks are equipped with large plates that shake the ground and
set off waves through the subsurface. Information is recorded,
the trucks are moved forward a short distance, and the process
is repeated.
Photo courtesy of
National Energy Technology Laboratory, USDOE.
The other
option, according to the Vintage notice, is to drill
30-foot-deep holes at 55-foot intervals across the entire
five-mile line using tractor-mounted drills. Dynamite would be
placed in each hole and detonated to create the energy waves.
This would equate to 480 holes drilled in the valley floor and
1,050 pounds of dynamite.
Both
methods would cause significant ground disturbance that would
affect the sensitive ecology of this fragile area, particularly
for endangered wildlife like the giant kangaroo rat, the San
Joaquin kit fox, and the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, all of
which live in underground burrows.
Thumper truck tracks in
the southern Utah desert. Photo courtesy of
Kevin Walker/Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance.
What's Next
After receiving Vintage's
notice of intent, the BLM replied that the agency could approve
an exploration permit as soon as the end of 2008. The BLM also
notified the oil company that before issuing the permit, the
agency would have to prepare an environmental analysis, receive
a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service "due
to the presence of a number of different threatened and
endangered species," and consult with several Native American
groups who have an interest in the area.
A coalition of organizations
are urging the BLM to prepare a full Environmental Impact
Statement before approving the exploration permit. In addition
to ForestWatch, other organizations signing the letter include
The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Defenders of Wildlife, California Wilderness Coalition, Sierra
Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds
Project, Desert Survivors, and Californians for Western
Wilderness.
We will continue to track this
issue to ensure that the rare wildlife and their grassland
habitats are protected from harmful oil exploration activities. |
