Let's make energy development safer for wildlife

The Yellowstone spill serves as hard-hitting wake-up call that even the “Last Best Place” is not immune to disasters. While the spill damage is still being determined, and cleanup efforts are far from over, one thing is certain: This must never happen again in Montana.

Oil is a constant in our way of life. But that doesn’t mean we must sacrifice fish, wildlife, clean water and a healthy environment.

Trout Unlimited believes energy development can co-exist with fish, wildlife and hunting and angling opportunities in Montana. However, this spill reminds us that risks increase the closer development is to important fish and wildlife habitat.

To prevent a repeat of the Yellowstone River spill, companies must improve and ensure the safety of existing infrastructure. It’s an investment Montanans reasonably expect industry to make to protect the things we treasure the most. Additionally, Montanans expect the industry to invest in rigorous monitoring, deploy effective and timely responses to spills, and to make whole the landowners and businesses harmed by spills.

Improved protection must also occur where oil and gas are produced.

In 2010, the Bureau of Land Management implemented reforms to guide planning for oil and gas leasing on public lands. In the past, sportsmen’s organizations like Trout Unlimited had little choice but to file protests to ensure that BLM adequately protected trout habitat from energy development because agency policy limited public involvement until after leases were destined for the auction block. The new policy, however, allows interested parties to collaborate with BLM earlier in the leasing process, to ensure energy development is properly planned before leases are sold. These reforms have resulted in fewer protests and improved protection for water, fish and wildlife.

We can improve energy development in our own backyard. The BLM is revising its resource management plan for the Billings Field Office, which encompasses fisheries such as the Yellowstone, Stillwater and Boulder rivers, as well as numerous streams holding native cutthroat trout. The BLM has an opportunity to allay reasonable concerns about spills and other impacts by better protecting trout streams. For instance, establishing a development buffer of a half-mile from trout streams could reduce or eliminate the impacts of spills at well sites. If implemented, this would apply to approximately 67 miles of trout streams, amounting to less than 3 percent of the BLM lands being analyzed. This would hardly be burdensome to energy developers as they use existing technologies to access oil and gas without surface disturbance.

Hoping for the best won’t prevent future spills and resource damage. Done responsibly, Montana can have vibrant oil and gas development, a thriving recreational economy focused on fishing and hunting and a quality of life that is the envy of the nation.