Draft Redo May Open Last Carson Forest Acres
Document To Be Released for Comment
A redone draft environmental review that could open the last 2,500 acres of the Carson National Forest’s Jicarilla Ranger District to energy development is expected to be released for public comment in late September, according to a forest official.
The review was originally released in the fall of 2003 but was retracted after severe criticism from energy companies and Governor Bill Richardson over proposed drilling restrictions in some areas that were already leased and that would have cut state and company revenues.
“We were trying to drive development rather than focusing on the effects of the (energy development) activity,” said Mark Catron, the Jicarilla District ranger who said the new review should be done later this fall.
He said the original review was criticized by not just energy companies but by environmental groups as well.
The area is considered critical wintering habitat for migratory deer and elk, and provides habitat for federal protected spotted owls, goshawks and wild horses. It also features more than 14,400 archaeological sites.
Environmental advocates are concerned that projected increases in drilling and road densities could damage archaeological sites and degrade wildlife habitat, turning the district into a sacrificial zone for oil and gas development.
Catron said wildlife surveys suggest deer and elk numbers are remaining steady and that protections are in place to defend nesting owls, hawks and eagles.
“I wouldn’t say we are sacrificing,” he said. “Everything seems to be working OK. I have concerns, but I don’t have the data to back up those concerns.”
The environmental impact statement is being prepared as part of a federal requirement for amending the forest management plan, necessary to incorporate updated standards and guidelines for energy development.
About 98 percent of the 153,000-acre district has already been leased to energy companies. Many of the leases were acquired before more rigorous environmental standards, implemented in the 1980s and 1990s. About 700 wells are already producing natural gas, many of which were drilled from the 1940s through the 1960s, according to Catron.
An energy review, forecasting the anticipated expansion in the San Juan Basin over the next two decades, suggested that the Jicarilla could see another 700 to 800 new wells drilled in that time.
“That’s a lot of wells,” Catron said. “We are going to get twice as many as we have now.”