ACTION: Protect wildlife refuges from destructive oil and gas drilling
Don Barry, Defenders of Wildlife
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed new regulations to manage and control non-federal oil and gas development on national wildlife refuges.
They are urgently needed.
Uncontrolled oil and gas drilling, mostly by private parties, is a significant threat to the National Wildlife Refuge System. Past drilling in wildlife refuges has resulted in avoidable toxic spills, massive habitat destruction, air and water pollution, and wildlife mortality.
There are currently over 5,000 oil and gas wells on more than 100 refuges across the country. Approximately one-third of all national wildlife refuges are dealing with the destructive impacts of non-federal oil and gas drilling, including wells, pipelines, storage tanks and other facilities. These activities have occurred on refuge lands with virtually no oversight or control by FWS due to horribly outdated and inadequate wildlife refuge regulations dealing with oil and gas development.
The proposed rule makes critical changes to woefully inadequate existing regulations that have not been updated for over 50 years.
National wildlife refuges are critical to America’s wildlife. It’s time to safeguard these treasured lands for wildlife conservation!
Sincerely,
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Don Barry Senior Vice President, Conservation Programs Defenders of Wildlife |