By Sherry Devlin

18-03-04

America will not sacrifice its fish and wildlife "in a singly focused effort" to satisfy a voracious energy appetite, Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson said. But public lands provide Americans with 30 % to 35 % of the energy they use each day, Watson said in a telephone interview from Spokane, where she addressed the 69th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference.

"So you cannot put all public land off limits to oil and gas development," she said. "That would cause huge, fundamental problems in our economy."

"There has to be a balance," said Watson, whose duties include oversight of the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation. "Energy development plays an important role on our public lands," she said, "but it is not dominant over all other uses."

Watson is an attorney and lived in Helena before her appointment as assistant secretary for land and minerals management by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. She is a former managing partner with the law firm of Gough, Shanahan, Johnson and Waterman, and a former industry lobbyist. Her pitch to the assembled state wildlife officers and private wildlife advocates in Spokane centred on their need to engage in the planning and development of new energy initiatives.
"We need their help," she said.

Before she went to work for the Interior Department, Watson said she "had this perception that the federal government was all-knowing and had people out researching all the information necessary on all topics."

"But the government doesn't have the resources to collect all the information and to put all that knowledge in one place," she said. "We probably wouldn't want that anyway."

Thus Watson's appeal to state and private wildlife biologists: get involved, share what you know, help plan energy development that is sensitive to the needs of wildlife. Energy conservation can and does play a part in meeting the nation's growing energy needs,she said. So do alternative energy technologies. But don't hold your breath, Watson counselled. The use of wind, geothermal and solar energy will increase, "but will not make a significant contribution to our energy mix during the next 25 years."

"Even if conservation increases significantly, there is still a gap," she said. "And even a small shortage of natural gas supply can have drastic effects on natural gas prices and ripple effects through the economy."

Watson conceded that much of the oil and gas development the Bush administration has proposed is controversial, particularly the possibility of exploration and development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Montana's Rocky Mountain Front and coalbed methane in Montana and Wyoming. The BLM takes "careful looks" at areas proposed for development and does, on occasion, decide that some areas should not be tapped for oil or natural gas, she said.
"The tough part is that just about any place you go, somebody thinks of it as their special place and wants it to be set aside," Watson said. "The difficulty is sorting through those concerns."

Contrary to her critics' claims, Watson said, "there is no direction from the president, vice president or interior secretary to produce energy to the exclusion of anything else."
"Our mandate is for multiple use," she said. "Our mandate is to find a balance."
In her talk to the Spokane convention, Watson cited several instances where lands have been excluded from possible development because of their value to wildlife or other uses. In Utah, for example, the BLM withdrew 70,000 acres from oil and gas exploration to protect habitat for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, sage grouse and other wildlife, she said. In Alaska, development of the National Petroleum Reserve would alter 5,400 acres of the 9.4 mm-acre planning area over the long term, she said.

However, 7.3 mm acres of the total would be available for lease to energy companies. So the potential short-term disruption would be far greater. Still, Watson insisted that the nation "can have both abundant energy and a clean environment."

"We will not sacrifice our fish and wildlife and other natural resources in a singly focused effort to satisfy this nation's energy demand," she said. "Honest communication and understanding the challenges of multiple use will further our efforts to be good stewards for ourselves and future generations."

Source: Missoulian