| The
National Park Service approved a recent plan
to drill five new wells on Padre Island
National Seashore this morning. The plan
requires eight months or more of drilling
operations to complete the project, including
several convoys of heavy trucks per day. BNP
Petroleum also has a permit to drill two
additional wells, a project that will likely
take four months to complete. In addition,
Novus Petroleum, the Australian investor for
BNP's "Padre Project," is working on
a plan to drill yet another well site on the
national seashore.
Padre Island
National Seashore is one of 14 national parks
in the United States whose subsurface, or
mineral rights, remain outside of the National
Park Service's jurisdiction. Because mineral
rights have dominance over surface rights,
land owners, including the National Park
Service, are forced to allow access to
drilling for oil and gas. Some public
officials have suggested that the drilling on
Padre is a warning of what's to come on all of
America's national parks.
"Instead
of coming to Padre to enjoy the world's
longest stretch of barrier island, Winter
Texans, families and fisherman will have to
tolerate eight months worth of drilling
convoys," said Chris Wilhite of the
Sierra Club. "It's just absurd that
America's great national parks are allowed to
be drilled such little return."
United States
only holds 3 percent of the world's petroleum
reserves, yet consumes 25 percent of the
world's petroleum. The USGS estimates that the
amount of natural gas under Padre Island
National Seashore is roughly equal to the
amount of natural gas that is consumed in the
United States in a single day. Recently, there
has been some speculation that the mineral
reserves under the Park have been depleted and
that there is even less than originally
thought.
"It's
simply not worth tolerating these convoys of
drilling trucks for months at a time for only
day's worth of natural gas," said Chris
Burnett of Surfrider Foundation's Coastal Bend
Chapter. "Clearly, a federal buyout of
those oil and gas rights is a smart solution
which honors the agreement during the
establishment of the national seashore."
The local
Surfrider chapter, along with the Coalition of
National Park Service Retirees, Sea Turtle
Restoration Project and other groups, has
joined Sierra Club's push for a federal buyout
of the oil and gas rights under Padre Island
National Seashore. Such a buy out would allow
the National Park Service to stop drilling
permanently while giving the mineral rights
owners their fair share of royalties,
including the Texas Permanent School Fund.
"Given
the questionable amount of natural gas under
the Park, a federal buyout of the mineral
rights is a better deal for the Texas
Permanent School Fund and the private owners
of the mineral rights," said Rusty
Middleton of the Sierra Club. "It just
seems to make sense for everyone."
Sierra Club
is increasing their efforts on a nation wide
petition drive to stop the drilling through a
federal buyout. Thousands of citizens have
signed the Club's online petition. Thousands
more have signed similar petitions calling for
an end to the drilling on Padre Island
National Seashore.
Visit http://www.sierraclub.org/field/southernplains/action/petition.asp
for Sierra Club's petition.
|
