On Wednesday, May 9, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe will visit ongoing oil and gas development operations outside Midland, Texas, and meet with oil and gas industry representatives to discuss energy development and wildlife conservation efforts underway in the Permian Basin. In February, FWS signed an agreement with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts that allows landowners – oil and gas companies and ranchers – to enter into voluntary conservation of the dunes sagebrush lizard. Oil and gas operators including ConocoPhillips, Chevron, XTO Energy Inc, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil , Sandridge and BOPCO are participating, along with 19 Texas ranchers, and have enrolled approximately 70 percent of the habitat area in Texas. The plan was developed locally in collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas A&M University, the Texas Oil and Gas Association, other state and county government agencies, local landowners, representatives from the ranching community, and oil and gas operators and development companies in the area. Similar voluntary conservation of the dunes sagebrush lizard also are underway in New Mexico, where 29 oil and gas companies and 39 ranchers participate in a similar program to protect lizard habitat while continuing to develop oil and gas resources. These conservation efforts encompass more than 95 percent of the habitat area in New Mexico to date, with no known adverse impacts on energy development in the region...more
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