Thursday, September 7, 2006

Oil and gas drilling Sante Fe Newmexican: "Environmental groups Wednesday issued a report, 'Hollow Promises from the Land of Enchantment,' saying a comprehensive review of BLM's process for leasing oil and gas permits shows a consistent failure to protect wildlife and mitigate damage from drilling operations. Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians, The Wilderness Society in Colorado and the Southwest Environmental Center published the report... "Proposed oil and gas drilling on Southern New Mexico's Otero Mesa -- home to what some scientists say is the last unfragmented piece of Chihuahuan Desert grassland in the U.S. and Mexico -- is as contentious as proposed drilling in Northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal. Otero Mesa's black gramma grassland hosts agave, yucca and more than 345 of the world's 1,500 cacti species. Its habitat hosts a large pronghorn herd, aplomado falcons, mule deer and prairie dogs, a keystone indicator of grassland health, according to Chihuahuan Desert biologist Walt Whitford. Hunters, scientists and environmentalists fought drilling on the mesa's 2.1 million acres. But in 2005, BLM issued its resource management plan to allow oil and gas drilling on 1.8 million acres in Otero Mesa. BLM documents say only 5 percent of any drilling site can be disturbed and a total of 1,589 acres will be impacted by well pads, roads and pipelines. BLM says at most 141 exploratory wells could be drilled. The plan permanently protects 35,000 acres as aplomado falcon habitat. New Mexico Energy and Minerals secretary Joanna Prukop said Wednesday that the federal agency failed to consider the state's 'very reasonable recommendations' for protecting Otero Mesa while allowing limited gas development. She spoke during a teleconference regarding the 'Hollow Promises' report... "Steve Henke, BLM's Farmington district manager, said limited exceptions to some drilling requirements have been granted under guidelines developed with local environmental groups and the state Game and Fish Department. BLM's Rundell said she believes only two instances of actual groundwater contamination have occurred. Most instances are surface leaks from pipes or tanks that are cleaned up quickly, she said." "2008 pres" 5:46:40 AM

Effluent dominated streams Effluent from sewage treatment plants in Boulder and Denver are bending the gender of fish downstream, according to a study cited by the Denver Post. From the article, "Some of these strangely sexed sucker fish have male and female organs, and others have sexual deformities, according to a study by University of Colorado researchers... "The paper, published this month in the journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, is the first peer-reviewed study documenting the reproductive problems of fish downstream from Colorado wastewater-treatment plants. Similarly odd fish have been found in England and in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Environmental Protection Agency officials said. Although gender-deformed fish have been found in Front Range streams in the past few years, skeptics argued that any number of pollution sources - even natural effects - could be the cause. The CU scientists now say they've confirmed that wastewater effluent is to blame. The new results raise concern about whether the stuff people dump down drains - from urine to cleaning products to cosmetics and medicines - can alter the hormonal systems of other animals, researchers said. Healthy male minnows placed in diluted effluent from Boulder's treatment plant stopped making sperm within two weeks, said Alan Vajda, a CU research associate and another author of the new report... "There is, however, no evidence yet that the so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in wastewater are concentrated enough to cause significant problems in people, Norris said. People are bigger than fish, he said, and don't live in water... "The CU research team has been given about $800,000 in EPA grants to continue investigating the strange fish maladies downstream from state wastewater-treatment plants, Vajda said. Other EPA offices are also funding similar work around the country on endocrine-disrupting chemicals in waterways, Tyler said. Also, the EPA has recommended limits for some of the chemicals, such as the nonylphenols found in cleaning products. Boulder wastewater-plant officials cooperated with the research, helping set up a mobile laboratory on site. 'It's valuable information not only for Boulder, but for other people in this industry,' said Floyd Bebler, the city's wastewater coordinator. 'It's happening all over, especially in the effluent-dominated streams ... of the West.'" "colorado water" 5:34:35 AM

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