Photo: Susan Lehman

Oil and natural gas may be valuable resources out West, but so are the area’s wildlife and outdoor heritage. Increased energy exploration, however, could make certain species much harder to find.

Mule deer, pronghorn antelopes, greater sage grouse, raptors and songbirds that depend on the sagebrush in the region are just some of the wildlife that could be seriously affected by oil and gas drilling.

Oil and Gas Companies Need to Disclose “Fracking” Chemicals

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a natural gas drilling process raising concerns about the health and safety of people and wildlife across the country.

Not only is the process highly destructive to wildlife habitat, but it can potentially leach toxins into rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater.

Unfortunately, in most cases, oil and gas companies don’t have to disclose the chemicals they use during fracking, which can include nasty ingredients like diesel fuel. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal authorities can’t fully regulate oil and gas companies because of exemptions in laws like the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act.

Members of Congress from Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania and other states are trying to pass legislation to close loopholes that allow fracking chemicals to remain a mystery and a threat to animals, people and the environment. The National Wildlife Federation is also working to mitigate the impacts of energy exploration on America’s valuable natural landscapes before oh deer turns into no deer at all.

Help Protect Wildlife From Fracking

You can speak up to protect wildlife from the dangers of fracking or support National Wildlife Federation’s work on this and other important wildlife issues.

I’m looking forward to joining the Montana Wildlife Federation Saturday April 17 to celebrate 75 years of success. National Wildlife Federation shares Montana Wildlife Federation’s conservation values and history. At the first gathering of the North American Wildlife Conference in 1936, where National Wildlife Federation was formed, Montana sent five delegates to that meeting. They went back and started Montana Wildlife Federation.

Montana Wildlife Federation has been fighting for Montana’s wildlife ever since, which is a good thing since Montana’s wildlife is facing some of their toughest challenges ever:

Due to warmer winter temperatures and less precipitation, most Montana rivers are at 50% of their snowpack.

Fishing restrictions in Montana are expected to start as early as July this year. This has happened in five of the past seven years. This is no longer the trend but the norm.

The current drought in the West is the worst in 500 years.

Warmer, drier conditions have caused a fourfold increase in the number of wildfires in the West. The acreage burned by wildfires will double by 2100. Montana will be particularly hard hit. One doesn’t have to look far to see red and dying trees caused by mountain pine bark beetles. Upwards of 70% of some Montana forests have been affected.

Big sagebrush habitats could decline by almost 60%.

This will have devastating consequences on sage grouse, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope.

Higher stream temperatures could reduce cold water trout habitat up to 50% percent in Montana.

Up to 90 percent of Prairie Potholes would be destroyed by global warming. The Prairie Potholes are America’s “duck factory.”

Montana’s youth are facing the indoors deficit facing children across the country – the typical child today spends over seven hours a day in front of a screen and only four to seven minutes a day in unstructured playtime outdoors.

Montana’s outdoors industry is threatened as wildlife is on the frontlines. Over half of Montanans hunt and fish, and outdoor recreation results in $1.1 billion in consumer spending and 21,755 jobs created.

I’m looking forward on Saturday to joining the courageous men and women of Montana Wildlife Federation who are “mapping out a course of action and following it to the end” to protect Montana’s most special places and get Montana’s kids outdoors to inspire a love of nature.

It seems perfect that we have all the oil we need for the next hundred years right in our own backyard.

That backyard, however, is literally my backyard. I grew up in western Colorado virtually on top of where this treasure waits for us. It is my home, along with hundreds of thousands of other people. We live here for the slow pace of life, for the clean air, the pronghorn and mule deer outside our living room windows, the cold, clear rivers and the simple beauty of this land. For people who have not seen this area, it may seem an easy trade but we who live here ask that the nation proceeds slowly on oil shale.

In Canada we’ve seen tar sands development (similar to oil shale) rip up large swaths of wildlife habitat, leaving it a virtual moonscape. In the US, new technologies are being tested to extract oil from shale rock while it is still underground. However, too many questions still remain about the environmental impacts of oil shale development, the largest of which is how much water it will use.

Water is vital to your life, my life and the lives of every creature on this earth. Water is also one resource we just cannot produce more of. Right now, the amount of water needed to develop oil shale will drain the habitats of native fish, destroy agricultural communities and put us all at risk. Ways to reduce the amount of water needed to develop oil shale are on the way and we need to wait for them before gambling on this precious resource.

We all use oil and know its importance even as we explore new, alternative fuel sources. And, with such a large prize waiting beneath us, oil shale promises to remain a potential energy source well into the foreseeable future. But for now, we need to be patient and not put the homes and water of thousands of Americans and wildlife unnecessarily at risk.

There’s still work to do on oil shale and other public lands issues! Please spread the word about public lands with an eCard!

See what tar sands development looks like in Canada: National Geographic – The Canadian Oil Boom