Tell the Bureau of Land Managment: Stop destroying Wyoming's public lands!

The Bureau of Land Management is planning to offer thousands of acres of prime wildlife habitat in Wyoming for oil and gas leasing.

If this happens, elk, mule deer, and Greater Sage Grouse habitat will be destroyed. Not to mention, fracking has been shown to create an increase in earthquakes -- leading to landslides, avalanches, and severe erosion.

Comments

To whom it may concern,

The BLM is unlawfully proposing to offer and issue oil and gas leases, which convey drilling rights, within several of Wyoming’s most critical wildlife habitats.

Of the 290 parcels that will be included in the September oil and gas lease sale, only 8 parcels are located in non-Greater sage grouse-habitats. Over 94,000 acres are located within PHMA, and development within these parcels would result in significant sage-grouse habitat fragmentation and loss. The lands contained within each of the PHMA units are assumed to contain habitats to support all seasonal life needs of the greater sage-grouse, with 14 parcels intersecting with PHMA known to have occupied leks within their boundaries. If all parcels offered for lease in PHMA are sold in the September sale, total acreage of sage-grouse PHMA leased for oil and gas development in Wyoming will increase to over 1,890,000, a number that has been trending upwards since April 2018. This outcome would undermine the 2015 Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Resource Management Plant Amendments for the Rocky Mountain Region (ARMPA), which obligate the BLM to prioritize leasing outside of GHMA and PHMA, in addition to other sage-grouse conservation considerations including protecting Sagebrush Focal Areas, achieving a net conservation gain through mitigation measures, and performing compensatory mitigation when needed.

Habitat quality and quantity are primary functions determining the distribution and abundance of big game. Mule deer populations in the planning area have largely fallen below population objectives set by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) in recent years. 126 of the parcels proposed for leasing in the BLM’s September oil and gas lease sale are within herd units that did not meet their 2017 population objectives. Oil and gas development on these lands would exacerbate population declines.

Additionally, 58 proposed parcels contain mule deer crucial winter range (including stopover areas), 56 proposed parcels contain pronghorn antelope crucial winter range, and an additional 3 parcels intersect elk crucial winter range. If leased, oil and gas development on these lands would threaten the high-quality and transitional habitat that these big game species depend on in the winter months for forage.  This result would directly contradict 43 U.S.C § 1701 (a)(8) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which requires the BLM to manage public lands “in a manner that will provide food and habitat” for all wildlife.

Lastly, BLM’s decision to move forward with the September oil and gas lease sale in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis is unacceptable. Wyoming ranks 46th in the country for broadband for internet access, and 51.6% of Americans living on Tribal lands in Wyoming have access to only fixed terrestrial (broadband) 25 mbps/3 mbps services. These statistics underscore the barriers that public lands users and tribal nations in Wyoming have faced in receiving notice of the lease sale, accessing information regarding the parcels proposed for lease, and engaging in the public participation process. As a result, the BLM has not been able to gather all of the suggestions and input that are necessary in order for the agency to make informed decisions concerning this sale and the public lands it will impact.

Sincerely,
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