Group: Mining, drilling often close to federal lands

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- More than half of federally protected public lands in Nevada have active mining or oil and gas operations within five miles or less, according to an analysis to be released today.

In its latest report, "Losing Ground: Who Owns the West?," The Environmental Working Group analyzed 250 million government records looking at mining and drilling on public lands compared with land protected by the federal government.

Dusty Horwitt, an Environmental Working Group analyst, said the group wanted to determine if gas, oil and coal companies were "locked out" of public lands as much as they claim.

"We found that saying they are locked out is like saying Donald Trump is locked out of Trump Tower," Horwitt said.

The group plotted 3.5 million tracts of public land in 13 Western states, including Nevada and identified 1,855 "national treasures" or protected land such as wilderness areas, national forests, national parks and other designated land.

After 30 days of a computer running 6.4 billion computations, the group found that the mining, oil and gas industries control land inside or within five miles of 1,300 of the 1,855 protected areas.

"We would like people to understand that just because drilling is not inside a national treasure does not mean it can't have a devastating impact," Horwitt said.

The group identified 159 "national treasures" or certain types of protected land in Nevada and found mining, oil and gas industries control public land inside or within five miles of 138 of them or 87 percent. The analysis found that land within five miles of 99 percent of the national treasures "have been mined, drilled, offered to or otherwise controlled by mining, oil, and gas interests," when combining current and past control by the industries.

The Humbodlt National Forest, the Toiyabe National Forest and the Inyo National Forest are the top three sites in the state with the highest degree of industry control, according to the report.

The report included federal land previously controlled by mining or drilling companies but does not include state land, private land or what may be used in the future.

Horwitt said he would like to see "buffers" around wilderness and other protected areas to help better preserve them.