Wilderness Society Vice President Ann Morgan testified on April 17 in front of the Energy and Minerals Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. Because of her previous experience as a Bureau of Land Management State Director in Colorado and Nevada, her testimony provided a unique overview of the administration’s increasingly voracious oil and gas policies, and the changes that have offset the traditional balance between conservation and oil and gas development.
Supported by analysis from Wilderness Society policy and science staff, Morgan asserts that at the same time that BLM is rolling out a new $22 million “Healthy Lands Initiative,” designed to restore lands and habitat impacted by oil and gas development, the agency is:
- Routinely waiving permit conditions designed to protect wildlife and healthy lands;
- Redirecting resources from inspection and enforcement to permitting more wells;
- Unable to meet commitments to monitor wildlife and air quality impacts;
- Opening more sensitive lands to leasing;
- Estimating that over a million acres will be graded, drilled, built upon or disturbed by currently planned new oil and gas development.
Morgan also offered recommendations to restore balance to the program.
View the full testimony.
