by Debbie Coffey Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
An Open Letter to the BLM
Jay D’Ewart
BLM Rocks Springs Field Office
280 Highway 191 North
Rock Springs, WY 82901
WhiteMountain_LittleColorado_HMA_WY@blm.gov
Subject: White Mountain/Little Colorado Environmental Assessment Comments
Dear Mr. D’Ewart:
In this BLM Environmental Assessment,
Section 1.2 PURPOSE AND NEED, the EA states:
“The need for this action is to remove excess animals in order to achieve a thriving natural ecological balance between wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock, vegetation, and water resources and to protect the range from deterioration associated with overpopulation of wild horses as authorized under Section 1333 (b) (2) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses & Burros Act (1971).”
My comments are:
1) In my opinion, one of my biggest concerns is that this Environmental Assessment is based on flawed reasoning and for reasons listed below is, basically, fraud against the American public, no matter what “authorizations” it hides behind.
Mr. D’Ewart, this is not directed at you personally, I know you are just filling in the blanks on a boilerplate BLM template and doing your job. But for the BLM to do an 80 page EA on the “deterioration to the range” that so few wild horses supposedly do, while at the same time doing a 6 page Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on the oil and gas lease sales on 105,231 acres of public lands in your district, it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with “a natural ecological balance” and the only thing that will be “thriving” are the pockets of politicians who are selling out the American people.
2) Regarding “ecological balance,” it defies logic that:
Only 69 wild horses will be allowed on THEIR Little Colorado Herd Management Area (HMA) which consists of 611,113 acres of public land. (That’s only one horse every 8,711 acres).
And only 205-300 horses will be allowed on THEIR White Mountain HMA which is 236,921 acres of public land. (That’s only one horse every 1,155 acres).
This is the equivalent of only 10 horses causing the same amount of “degradation” as ALL of the oil and gas projects and all of their digging, pipelines, construction, trucks and water usage on 105,231 acres in your district (not to mention the additional fracking from oil shale projects and the effects of the tar sands project mentioned below).
3) Regarding desire to “protect the range from deterioration” by relatively few wild horses, what about the EA for the oil and gas leases? It states the following deterioration: “Contamination of soil from drilling and production wastes mixed into soil or spilled on the soil surfaces could cause a long-term reduction in site productivity” and “Direct impacts resulting from the oil and gas construction of well pads, access roads, and reserve pits include removal of vegetation, exposure of the soil, mixing of horizons, compaction, loss of top soil productivity and susceptibility to wind and water erosion. Wind erosion could be a moderate contributor to soil erosion given the average wind speeds in the area. Dust from vehicle traffic would also be a factor. Indirect impacts such as runoff, erosion and off-site sedimentation could result from construction and operation of well sites, access roads, gas pipelines and facilities.”
YET, BLM gave them a FONSI that claimed this damage “will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment, individually or cumulatively”
4) In connection with the water: Consider that a horse only drinks about 15 gallons of water a day. Then consider what the oil and gas leasing in your district (which was found to have no significant impact) could do:
“Spills or produced fluids (e.g., saltwater, oil, fracking chemicals, and/or condensate in the event of a breech, overflow, or spill from storage tanks) could result in contamination of the soil onsite, or offsite, and may potentially impact surface and groundwater resources in the long term.”
“Petroleum products and other chemicals could result in groundwater contamination through a variety of operational sources including but not limited to pipelines, well (gas and water) construction, and spills. Similarly, improper construction and management of reserve and evaporation pits could degrade ground water quality through leakage and leaching.”
“Water wells developed for oil and gas drilling could result in a draw down in the quantity of water in the residential wells”
So, the BLM finds this to be of no significant impact?
5) Also, regarding “a thriving natural ecological balance” and protecting “the range from deterioration,” let’s just take a little peek at two other things: the proposed oil shale and tar sands projects you’re planning in your district (Wyoming, Utah and Colorado).
Regarding the oil shale, I just have one word to say: FRACKING.
And about the proposed tar sands project, the Indigenous Environmental Network (in Canada, where they have tar sands mining) states: “Water is needed in huge amounts in tar sands production and in all other construction stages of tar sands infrastructure across the continent. It takes five liters of water to produce one of usable petrol…Waste tailings ponds are so vast as to be visible from outer space at this early point in production.”
This, while the BLM removes our wild horses from our sight. And “leases” (sells) our public lands for devastation.
SOURCES:
FONSI for oil and gas leases:
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/og/1111.Par.20365.File.dat/fonsi.pdf
The EA this FONSI was based on:
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/og/1111.Par.46894.File.dat/ea.pdf
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2011/april/14hdd-peis.html
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2011/april/19og-ea.html
http://www.ienearth.org/tarsandsresources.html
http://priceofoil.org/2010/09/15/utah-approves-americas-first-tar-sands-mine/
Related Articles
- Wyoming Wild Horses Need Your Help, Now (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- The BLM’s Big “Fire Sale” of Our Public Lands (ppjg.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
YES! YES! YES!
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Cattle are not part of a NATURAL ecological balance.
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Great Great job Debbie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This is the best and most concise article to date!
Thank you Debbie!!
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Thank you Debbie! It helps so much to see letters such as yours. Commenting on Environmental Assessments is a new process for many of us and it is SO important.
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Excellent!
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This is another point that can be stressed:
WILD HORSES — THE STRESS OF CAPTIVITY
Bruce Nock, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and of
Anatomy and Neurobiology, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
Click to access bruce-nock-report-final.pdf
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BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Debbie, you go girl.
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Just sent my letter through TCF’s website.
Is anybody taking this data and sending it to “supportive” Representatives and Senators? Is this worthy of investigation? Under the opening line of : “And now from the same people that brought you the Deepwater Horizon disaster….”
Ohh, we’ve learned, haven’t we, all you Senators and Representatives? Ohh,yes….
The Senate and House are bending over for Big Oil and Gas. It might feel good to them, but it doesn’t to me.
Someone needs to ask these people on The Hill to comment about the facts in this letter ON CAMERA.
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Thanks to ALL of you, look how far the plight of our Wild Horses and Burros is being carried:
INTERNATIONAL TEARS FOR BLM WILD HORSE ROUND-UPS.
April 20, 2011 by thepersianhorse
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Thank You for sharing. I will share this right now.
All this makes me sp sad and this WILL and MUST STOP. //Marie, Sweden
http://www.stallrosengarden.se/
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Our American government is SO screwed up & broken beyond repair! They actually “think”(if they know how, that is!), that what they’re saying & doing, is somehow, the right thing, that it’s “ok”. Well, it’s NOT, &, we know it!! Every living creature & thing, has the basic rights of life’s necessities, including WATER & food, among other things. We humans do NOT have the “right” to withhold those life-giving necessities!! For any human to do so, is a SIN against life itself! Until we change things, starting with getting rid of Obama, his merry band of idiots, aka the BLM, & the rest of his inept administration, I am ashamed to be an American!! This ongoing issue, &, many others, is a disgusting disgrace to America & the rest of the world. We WILL keep fighting, until we & OUR wild horses & burros WIN!!
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Our comments on this EA are due tomorrow so just want to point out one of many inaccuracies that I noticed. Even though the returned mares were all PZP’d at the last roundup (Nov 2007) which would reduce the foal rate … the EA chart shows an annual increase of abt. 34% on the White Mountain HMA and 46% annually on the Little Colorado. Check this for yourself – orange chart – page 3. [20% is even questionable in any year on any range even without PZP and sex ratio adjustment] http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rsfodocs/whitemtn_littlecolo.Par.10791.File.dat/2011_ea.pdf
Debbie – Your investigation is excellent and frighteningly true. Thank you for your hard work.
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http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/rsfo/whitemtn_littlecolo.html
(try this and then click on Environmental Assesment)
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There is also a petition to sign on AMERICAN WILD HORSE PRESERVATION CAMPAIGN website. Be certain to add your own comments in order for your signature to be counted:
BLM to Remove 696 Wild Horses from White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas in July 2011
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6498
Please submit your comments by May 6, 2011
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting public comments on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for a plan to capture 90 percent of the wild horses living in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Wyoming. The BLM wants to permanently remove 696 of the mustangs in a mid-July 2011 roundup, a time when the agency has previously admitted that “foals are smaller,” “water requirements are greater,” and horses “may become more easily dehydrated.” Summer roundups last year resulted dozens of deaths, including at least 15 of which were caused by dehydration-related complications.
Take Action Below to Comment on this proposed roundup.
See EA & Related Documents Here.
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Fracking is dangerous. If they want methane just look to the factory farms and use the waste generated to produce methane. It’s cheaper and much much safer than fracking. Methane containment units are available but not to the average small farm. One liberal Art’s school in upstate NY has such a unit in use now the maintain heat in the indoor so the Stable watering system which has automatic water’s in each stall from freezing. This same method can be used for domestic use for power generation. So simple But people in charge are very Simple.
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