See an interactive map of major development sites throughout the Rocky Mountain Region.

In recent years, energy development has become a dominant fixture on the Western Landscape, threatening the long-term sustainability of our fish, wildlife and water resources. Since 1999, drilling has increased 260% on federal public lands. Drill rigs, well pads, compressor stations, power lines, pipelines and roads now dominate public lands that once were prized wildlife habitat. Federal policies that lease public lands for development fail to adequately consider the consequences to our natural resources. Furthermore, federal agencies responsible for managing our fish and wildlife habitat lack the necessary resources to ensure the impacts of energy development are minimized and mitigated.

We all use oil and gas in our daily lives. But with 44.4 million acres of public lands currently leased to the energy industry, how industry proceeds with drilling will determine the future of our water resources, fish, wildlife and way of life.

Clearly, the system for managing our public lands is broken when the agency entrusted with oversight of fish, wildlife and multiple-use planning boldly states, "Wildlife habitat would generally only be protected if a mineral commodity is not present for extraction" as the Bureau of Land Management did in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pinedale Resource Management Plan in February 2007.

Federal land management agencies consistently underestimate the impacts of energy development on other uses of the public's lands. Near Pinedale, Wyoming, a recent study documented a more than 40 % decline in mule deer abundance where intense oil and gas development occurred in the species' winter range. Sage grouse have been hit especially hard by increased drilling near breeding grounds, or "leks," and other vital habitats. Coal bed methane product water is dramatically affecting water chemistry and fish populations in the Tongue River watershed in Montana.

Current federal leasing policies allow industry to determine where energy development will occur as well as the pace and intensity of the development. Industry and political pressure on the BLM to issue thousands of drilling permits has rendered nearly impossible the careful review of potential impacts to fish and wildlife. At the same time energy development on public lands has exploded, resource management agencies are being asked to do more with less funding.

The policy of allowing the industry to lease and develop lands helter-skelter across the West needs revision. Whenever possible, the BLM should utilize staged development that makes some blocks of land open to leasing and some temporarily withdrawn until a later time. This will ensure the long-term availability and sustainability of fish, wildlife, water and energy resources. Some public lands with outstanding fish and wildlife values should be placed entirely off limits to development.