Sacramento, Calif. — Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit today over plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the Los Padres National Forest, following a devastating oil and wastewater spill in January of this year. The lawsuit, filed by Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Los Padres ForestWatch, states that the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to increase drilling would harm endangered California condors and other wildlife, pollute the air, and interfere with forest recreation. The groups charge that the plan is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act.
The Los Padres National Forest oil leasing decision was approved by the Forest Service in July 2005 and opens 52,075 acres of the forest in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to oil and gas drilling, including more than 4,200 acres of infrastructure on the national forest, and untold additional acres of disturbance on and near the forest. The project will negatively impact wildlife, including the California condor and several other endangered animals, by allowing surface drilling near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary and the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. Both areas are critical to the survival and recovery of the endangered California condor. The decision also allows surface drilling immediately adjacent to the Dick Smith, Chumash and Sespe wilderness areas and slant drilling beneath the Wild and Scenic Sespe Creek and Wild and Scenic eligible Piru Creek.
Past oil and gas development has already caused significant harm to the Los Padres National Forest and nearby protected areas. On January 29, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum spilled at least 200 gallons of oil and 2,100 gallons of wastewater into a tributary of federally designated Wild and Scenic Sespe Creek, along the southern boundary of the Sespe Condor Sanctuary. Several sources have confirmed that up to four times that amount was spilled, and a final report is expected soon following completion of an investigation.
Nearly a dozen other significant spills by this and other companies have occurred in this area in the past three years, including a massive spill of 8,400 gallons of salt water and an “unknown” amount of oil into the Four Forks Creek, another tributary of Sespe Creek, and an additional spill in the nearby Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge—an area closed to public entry and set aside to protect the California condor.
Condors have been harmed by existing oil and gas drilling on and near the Los Padres National Forest. Condors have been known to visit oil pads and to have become oiled as a result of oil drilling activity, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In April 2002, the USFWS had to flush a condor from an oil pad, and later recorded oil on its face and wings. The Forest Service also noted in 2005 that a condor became oiled due to “a small spill of oil that occurred when the condor was present and flew down to the spill before the workers could remove the oil.” Other condors have been found with oil on their heads also.
According to a 2004 report by the Forest Service and Michigan State University, the Los Padres is one of the most heavily visited national forests in the country, attracting millions of visitors from San Francisco to Los Angeles and beyond. The study revealed that forest visitors spend an average of $43 each day they visit. With nearly two million visitors per year, the Los Padres is a boon to the local economy.
The drilling plan for the Los Padres would produce less than a day’s supply of oil for our nation, according to government estimates, placing our local forest at great risk for little benefit.
Comments are closed.