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April 23, 2007
FORESTWATCH FILES LAWSUIT TO
STOP
OIL DRILLING EXPANSION IN
LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST
New Drilling
Places Condors and Other Species At Risk for
Less Than a Day's Supply of Oil; Move Comes on
the Heels of January's Disastrous Oil Spill in
the Sespe
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.
Condors perch on oil drilling
equipment near the Los Padres National Forest.
Photo U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.
More than 80 workers spent over
a month cleaning up this year's oil spill in
the Los Padres National Forest. Photo © Los Padres
ForestWatch, Inc.
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.
Photo courtesy Daniel
Bianchetta,
www.bigsurphoto.com
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