CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environment reporter | Posted: Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:00 am
LANDER - During the recent gas-drilling boom on the Pinedale Anticline, circumvention of wildlife safeguards has been the rule, while the protection of wild animals there has been the rare exception, conservationists say.
Authorities with the Bureau of Land Management, however, declare this claim to be "categorically incorrect," and they warn that the statistics on wildlife exceptions can be misleading to those not involved in the process.
From 2000 to 2006, as development of the Pinedale Anticline gas field in western Wyoming exploded, 80 percent of industry requests for exceptions to wildlife protection stipulations were granted by the Bureau of Land Management. In 2000, only six out of a total 267 requests for wildlife exceptions were denied by the BLM.
Conservationists argue the numbers illustrate how wildlife protections built into leases, drilling permits and the overall management plan for the field have been systematically bypassed for years.
"It looks like the exception is the rule at the Pinedale BLM," said Jonathan Ratner, director of the Wyoming office of the Western Watersheds Project, a conservation organization. "One has to wonder why they even have stipulations to protect wildlife."
Bruce Pendery, attorney with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said the regulations allow the BLM to grant exceptions to wildlife protections, but his organization's view is that those exceptions should be "rare and infrequent."
"These stipulations were placed on this region for a reason," Pendery said. "We think that they've gotten far too liberal in their willingness to grant these things. Providing exceptions becomes a back-door way around seasonal restrictions on drilling. It's getting to the point that the stipulations are the exceptions, not the exceptions to the stipulations."
The wildlife restrictions on the Pinedale Anticline include protections related to crucial winter range for big game animals such as mule deer, antelope and elk - which go into effect Nov. 15 of each year and are lifted May 1 - as well as rules against industrial activity around sage grouse mating grounds and nests for birds of prey.
But many of these stipulations are blanket rules, BLM authorities say, which don't always make sense in certain scenarios. Because of this, operators have a process by which they can request exceptions to certain rules, sometimes only for only an hour, a day or a few days.
And it often makes sense to grant the exceptions, BLM officials say, because the animals the stipulations are meant to protect aren't even in the area.
"We don't just rubber-stamp them; we evaluate them on a case-by-case basis," said Bill Lanning, associate field manager with the BLM's Pinedale office. "We certainly do not take these things lightly, and we definitely feel we're doing the proper thing."
Consulting biologists
Companies often will request an exception to crucial winter range stipulations as the Nov. 15 date nears, because they need a few more days to wrap up operations for the season, Lanning said. In that case, and in every case, the BLM investigates the request and receives input from wildlife biologists about its potential impacts.
If the big game animals are still up in their summer range and not expected to arrive near the site in question during the period of the request, the exception will often be granted, he said.
Theresa Gulbrandson, wildlife biologist with the BLM in Pinedale, said often there will be a restriction in place regarding a known raptor nest, for example, but the nest ceases to be active. Other times known sage grouse leks move.
"We take the nature of each exception into consideration, as well as the critical need for an exception," Gulbrandson said.
If there is a safety concern about a piece of equipment on the Anticline, for example, and no animals will be disturbed, the biologist will often recommend the exception be granted, she said.
Chuck Otto, field manager of the BLM's Pinedale office, said the exception process is designed to allow biologists to go out and look at the field, because although there are blanket restrictions, "sometimes the animals are not there."
The key statistic one should look at in terms of exceptions granted, Otto said, is not the overall percentage, but what percentage of the time the biologists' recommendations are overridden by the field manager. In the case of the Pinedale Anticline, this has occurred "only a handful" of times, he said.
"We have professional wildlife biologists looking at ensuring that wildlife populations are sustained and healthy," Otto said.
'Verbal screening'
Lanning noted that another item that does not show up in the statistics is the fact that companies will often call the BLM office directly to find out if there is even a possibility of getting a certain exception granted. Often the message will be "not a chance," Lanning said, and the operator won't even bother making the formal request.
Emily Fisher, spokeswoman for Questar Exploration and Production Co., said her company's biologists and personnel try to avoid asking for exceptions in the first place, by working with the BLM to understand "areas of concern throughout the year."
"A lot of things can change in a year, though, including both the pace of our operations and wildlife timing or movement patterns," Fisher said. "When our operations are completed faster than anticipated, we may ask for an exception to allow us into an area a few days or a few weeks earlier than normal."
Whatever the case may be, exception requests are almost always discussed with the BLM authorities before they are submitted, Fisher said, and other companies on the Anticline follow the same process.
"This verbal screening is why the exception rate appears so high," Fisher said.
Deena McMullen, spokeswoman for Shell Exploration and Production Co., said her company maintains a similar kind of dialogue with the BLM.
"Many of the exceptions that Shell has asked for in the past are for a couple of extra days to finish operations after the big game critical winter range stipulation goes into effect Nov. 15," McMullen said.
Game and Fish: No exceptions
But Scott Smith, wildlife management coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Pinedale, said while his department used to consult on these case-by-case exception requests, since about 2004 his agency has shifted its stance, especially when it comes to big game winter range protections.
In short, the Game and Fish Department believes the BLM should strictly enforce its Nov. 15 to May 1 blanket restriction on field activities, Smith said.
"With the amount of activity on the Anticline, we basically have taken the position - and we've sent memos each fall to the BLM - that we're not entertaining or evaluating big game winter range exceptions," he said. "We support the BLM's timing restrictions and would support the BLM adhering to those."
Officials with Game and Fish, of course, recognize the need to make exceptions for emergencies and safety concerns, Smith said.
Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.