DATE: May 8, 2007
Contact: Christine Canaly, Director Telephone: (719) 589-1518
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council E-mail: slvec@fone.net
Travis Stills, Attorney Telephone: (970) 375-9231
Energy Minerals Law Center
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Alamosa, CO- The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) has filed a lawsuit
against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S. F&WS) regarding a Lexam Exploration Inc.
(Lexam) proposal to drill two 14,000-foot oil or gas test wells on the newly established Baca
National Wildlife Refuge (Baca NWR). Lexam’s website
(http://lexamexplorations.com/energy_projects.php) describes the proposed project as “high risk”
and “high cost.”
SLVEC has filed suit to ensure that the public is fully informed of Lexam’s drilling plans
for the Baca NWR. SLVEC’s suit seeks to ensure that a full range of alternatives and mitigation
measures are presented to the public before the drilling project causes any further surface
impacts to the Baca NWR. The suit asks the Colorado Federal District Court in Denver to ensure
that impacts to the Baca NWR are not allowed by the US F&WS until after the public has had an
opportunity to participate in the formal decision making process mandated by the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Lexam Explorations, Inc. owns some subsurface mineral rights under the land which was
purchased by the American public and designated as the Baca National Wildlife Refuge. The
Baca NWR was purchased as part of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of
2000.
In July of 2006, Lexam informed the U.S. F&WS that Lexam intends to drill two,
14,000-feet deep exploratory wells on the refuge. Since this is a split-estate situation (surface
rights owned by the federal government and subsurface rights by Lexam and others), the
U.S.F&WS claimed that the federal government could not prohibit Lexam from accessing the
minerals and therefore need not implement the informed decisionmaking and public participation
mandates of NEPA.
SLVEC’s lawsuit asserts that U.S. F&WS has ample legal authority to protect the Baca
NWR, even where the minerals are owned by a private company. Further, the lawsuit asserts
that not only does the U.S. F&WS have the legal duty to implement NEPA, the public owners of
these federal lands deserve to have input into what happens on the Baca NWR.
Drilling in the unique conditions found in the San Luis Valley raises questions about the
impact that a 14,000-foot oil and gas test well could have on underlying geologic and hydrologic
structures. The proposed drilling area lies near the Sangre de Cristo fault line, and will pass
through two aquifers. The expected impacts to the groundwater in the Valley’s closed-basin
system are unknown.
The number of oil and gas well permits issued since 2002 has risen dramatically in the
State of Colorado. In the San Luis Valley, there are now over a hundred oil and gas leases issued
on federal lands outside the Baca NWR. The San Luis Valley has seen little active drilling and
this is the first attempt at deep drilling on the Valley’s eastern edge. Drilling could have a
significant impact on wildlife refuge habitat.
Biologic inventories have not been performed on Refuge lands. At the Great Sand Dunes
National Park, located adjacent to the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, biologic inventories have
revealed areas of global biologic significance, including at least twenty-eight rare, threatened, or
endangered species, including the globally imperiled slender spider flower. Colorado Division
of Wildlife (CDOW) biologists recently discovered a genetically unique population of the
endangered Rio Grande sucker on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge. This population is
considered by CDOW to be critical to the recovery of the species throughout the Rio Grande
watershed.
SLVEC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and restore - through
research, education, and advocacy - the biological diversity, ecosystems, and natural resources of
the San Luis Valley and associated bioregion, balancing ecological values and human needs.
The Energy Minerals Law Center represents communities impacted by energy mining and filed
the lawsuit on behalf of the SLVEC and its members.
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