Energy boom hurts wildlife, lands access, advocates say

Hunters and anglers face growing restrictions on access to public lands and waters because energy development has taken priority over wildlife and habitat protections, conservationists and labor leaders testified Tuesday.

“Throughout the country, working men and women are having a harder time finding public access to hunting and fishing areas, and those that are still available are often experiencing a decrease in the quality and quantity of fish and game,” said William Hite, president of a plumbing and pipefitting trade union.
Democrats who head the House Natural Resources Committee called the hearing because they said the Bush administration has placed oil and gas drilling over all other land-use priorities, sweeping aside protections for the species central to hunting and angling.

“Energy development is not being done right on the public lands in the West,” said Rollin Sparrowe, a board member of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and former supervisor of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research programs on Rocky Mountains wildlife.

Billings Gazette