The Biden administration and Congress are being called on to better protect national parks from oil and gas development/Rebecca Latson file

With four prominent national parks as examples of actual and potential impacts of oil and gas development, the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks is calling on the Biden administration and Congress to better protect the National Park System from energy development.

Air quality conditions are worsening at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, energy exploration riddling the landscape surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park has contributed to a "massive methane cloud" over northern New Mexico, energy development and other pollution have impacted the air quality and soils at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and a vital, 150-mile-long migratory corridor that pronghorn follow from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming to winter ranges is a risk from a proposed 3,500-well gas project, according to the Coalition.

Those risks were laid out Wednesday in a report from the Coalition.

“The impacts caused by oil and gas development on the doorsteps of national parks across the country have the potential to harm park resources, contaminate water, pollute the air, destroy habitat, threaten public health, impede the visitor experience, and exacerbate the already present impacts of climate change, which ultimately harms local communities and economies,” said Mike Murray, Chair of the Coalition's Executive Council. “To protect our irreplaceable natural and cultural resources, treasured landscapes, our climate, and public health, the Biden administration and Congress must take action to curb the adverse effects of energy extraction on parks, surrounding landscapes, gateway communities, park visitors, and national park resources.”

To better protect the National Park System, the Coalition recommends that the Biden administration: (1) prohibit oil and gas developments on lands near national parks; (2) protect wildlife by ensuring migration routes are not impeded by oil and gas development; (3) regulate emissions from oil and gas development to protect air quality; and (4) close loopholes and modernize rules surrounding federal oil and gas leasing and management.

Specifically, the Coalition found that: 

• Carlsbad Caverns National Park sits at the convergence of the Delaware and Permian Basins, one of the country’s most active and profitable oil and gas fields. As of December 2022, there were 350 oil rigs in the Permian Basin, and new permits for additional drilling  are being approved regularly. This uptick in drilling is wreaking havoc on air quality, with the National Park Service noting recently that the park is showing heightened ozone levels due to the impacts of oil and gas activity. 
• The Bureau of Land Management has leased over 90% of the federal lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park for drilling. Oil and gas companies have already drilled more than 37,000 wells in the area and built a sprawling network of roads – 15,000 miles – five times longer than the distance from Los Angeles to New York. A 2016 NASA study documented the multiple compounding adverse effects of oil and gas development in the area, including the presence of a massive methane cloud positioned over the Four Corners region of the United States, including northwestern New Mexico.
• Research and monitoring have demonstrated that Rocky Mountain National Park’s air quality is affected by air pollution coming from a variety of human made sources, including vehicles, power plants, agriculture, fire, and the oil and gas industry. A report from the National Parks Conservation Association highlights the impact of oil and gas production in Weld County, east of Rocky Mountain National Park. The high levels of oil and gas production have contributed to severe levels of ozone, have been a leading factor in the national park falling out of compliance with the regional haze standards set under the Clean Air Act, and have contributed to nitrogen oxide build-up in the park’s soil, which exceeds 15 times the natural amount.
• Grand Teton National Park's wildlife are threatened by a proposed 3,500-well gas project that could “irrevocably alter the Path of the Pronghorn antelope, a migration corridor that hundreds of pronghorns use to travel from summer ranges in Grand Teton National Park to winter ranges in the Green River Basin.” Numerous conservation groups have argued that the massive gas-field would disrupt the Path of the Pronghorn by preventing access to the winter ranges that the animals need to survive. 

Traveler postscript:

Here's a list of some other units of the National Park System placed at risk from oil and gas development:

Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, where there have been efforts to expand oil exploration.

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado has had air quality problems due to nearby energy development in Utah's Uintah Basin.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is expected to soon have a neighboring oil refinery capable of producing 49,500 barrels of oil per day.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado is not far from potential oil leases.

Four years ago Traveler correspondent Johh Miles noted that 12 units of the National Park System had active oil and gas wells; smaller parks like Aztec Ruins in New Mexico (4 wells), Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida (20 wells) Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio (90 wells), and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area in Texas (174 wells).