Big Green: The Washington Post's Exposé of The Nature Conservancy
Texas Prairie Preserve, continued
The saga of TNC and the Attwater's prairie chicken reads like a dark tragicomedy. Roughly 10 years ago, Mobil Oil gave TNC a 2,300-acre piece of prairie land in Texas City, Texas — the last patch of native breeding ground for the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken. Mobil saw the $2.2 million land donation to The Nature Conservancy as a chance to save one of the world's most endangered species, says the Post. Then, in 1999, TNC decided to drill for oil.
TNC, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, planned to sink its wells far from the birds' main habitat. It also planned to introduce captive-bred prairie chickens onto the land. Its plans ran aground, however, when commerce clashed with conservation. TNC's oil well tapped into a natural gas pocket. In order to get the gas to an interstate pipeline, it had to build its own pipeline. Construction delays also delayed the release of the captive-bred prairie chickens, which were released three months late — at a time when predators such as falcons returned to the area. All the captive-bred birds died shortly after their release. In addition, some captive birds drowned in their pens awaiting release. The Post says oil spills and a gas explosion also happened on the preserve.
To make matters worse, TNC tapped into a legal landmine when it began drilling for natural gas. It drilled laterally to avoid bothering the birds, it says. The mineral rights to the natural gas pocket into which it tapped actually belonged jointly to TNC and the non-profit Russell Sage Foundation, along with 39 other investors. The Post outlines how TNC tried to trick the Sage Foundation into selling its mineral rights to TNC for a song, without telling the Foundation that there was plenty of gas underground — and that TNC was already tapping into it. Accusing The Nature Conservancy of masterminding a "conspiracy" to satiate its "greed," the Sage Foundation sued. TNC settled for $10 million.
After the Post series appeared, TNC stopped all oil drilling on nature preserves.
TNC's Response:
"Our staff and independent scientists have confirmed that the protection of the Attwater's prairie chicken has not been compromised by our decisions regarding oil and gas activity," writes TNC. Instead, it says "small remnant populations" of birds such as the Texas City group will eventually disappear for reasons including a small gene pool, fluctuating numbers of birds, and natural causes such as damage to their environment by hurricanes.People had been drilling for oil and gas on the Texas City site for some 50 years before TNC created a preserve there. TNC wrote protection measures into its contracts with private drilling companies. It says the scientist cited by the Post supports oil and gas activity at the preserve, as long as funds go to maintain the site and protect birds at other sites. TNC adds that the scientist — Dr. Stanley Temple — believes the Post distorted his conclusions and the tenor of a report he wrote about the state of the preserve and the endangered birds.
"There is no way to know with certainty whether activity to retrofit a gas pipeline at Texas City Prairie Preserve in 1999 contributed to the deaths of 17 captive-bred Attwater's prairie chickens," says TNC, which notes that other captive-bred prairie chickens previously released under ideal conditions have also had a slim-to-nil survival rate.
As for siphoning off someone else's gas, TNC says it was an honest mistake, and that no donor funds were used to pay for the ensuing court case and $10 million settlement.
In closing, TNC writes: "We readily admit we have made mistakes at Texas City. We relied heavily
on our advisor, as our expertise is in conservation, not oil and gas exploration. It was uncharted
territory for us. We also miscalculated the public perception of our well-intentioned actions at the
preserve: Things looked worse than they were, given the complexities of the birds' chances of
survival and the drilling operations."
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