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Oil and gas production is harming air quality and wildlife in national park sites across the Western U.S., according to a new report from the Coalition to Protect National Parks. Colorado Newsline reports the coalition looked at four case studies: Chaco Culture National Historic Park and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
The report notes that in the region surrounding Chaco Culture National Historic Park, more than 90 percent of public lands have been leased for oil and gas drilling, and a methane cloud covering more than 1,200 square miles has now formed over the Four Corners region. The report calls on the Interior Department to complete its 20-year pause on new oil and gas leasing within ten miles of the park.
In Colorado, the report warns that oil and gas drilling in nearby Weld County has contributed to Rocky Mountain National Park falling out of compliance with regional haze standards in the Clean Air Act. The National Parks Conservation Association said that leasing another 60,000 acres of land west of the park could interfere with overwintering elk populations.
“Without additional planning and regulations to protect and improve air quality and manage the boom of oil and gas development near national parks, our climate and air remain at risk,” the report authors said.
Chopping down trees won't help Great Salt Lake
A legislative proposal to increase logging around the Great Salt Lake won't help restore the rapidly-draining lake. Research published last year found that thinning trees doesn't increase water flows downstream. More than a decade ago, the Uinta Mountains were ravaged by bark beetles, killing one in four trees. That became a natural laboratory for scientists to measure water yields. Sara Goeking, a scientist with the U.S. Forest Service, called it a “natural thinning event.”
“That’s what the mountain pine beetle epidemic really was,” Goeking told the Salt Lake Tribune. “And there were a handful of studies that showed water yield didn’t increase, it didn’t change. Some of them found some decreased water yield.”
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A transition to renewable energy is an essential part of the solution to climate change. But we must be responsible with our approach to development on public lands and base these decisions off of scientifically-supported data.”
