Great Links

Oil and Gas Leasing on the Monongahela National Forest

As the push for clean energy sources rages, the Marcellus Shale promises to provide natural gas at levels never before seen and even the most sensitive and pristine public lands are being threatened. Proposed oil and gas leasing on the Monongahela National Forest is threatening valuable recreation areas and pristine habitat for our imperiled bats and native brook trout.

US FOREST SERVICE RELEASES REPORT ON DAMAGES TO FERNOW EXPERIMENTAL FOREST FROM GAS DRILLING

A report released by the US Forest Service last month addresses issues surrounding the Berry Energy B-800 well located on the Fernow Experimental Forest.

Read Ken Ward's Article in the February 8, 2011 Charleston Gazette.

Read the Sustained Outrage Blog about the Report.

Click here for the full report.

For more on Berry Energy's B-800 well, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

Public Gas Leasing Protest Letters

March 2010 Lease Sale Auction

Mon Parcels pulled from BLM OIL AND GAS LEASE AUCTION

In a last minute move two proposed parcels in the Monongahela that were schedule to be auctioned for oil and gas development were pulled a the 11th hour. FOB and several other groups had filed letters protesting these auctions.

Click here to read the press release regarding this stunning development.

Lease Sale Announcement

Friends of Blackwater/The Wilderness Society Protest Letter -- Also signed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County (FOBPC), the West VirginiaWilderness Coalition (WVWC), the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (WVHC), the
Friends of the Allegheny Front (FOAF), the Stewards of the Potomac Highlands (SOPH), and
the Laurel Mountain Preservation Association, Inc. (LMPA)

In addition Trout Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation and The Mountain Institute also filed letters of protest.

******************************************************

Trout Unlimited Calls for Moratorium on Gas Leases on the Mon - February 23, 2010. Click Here.

******************************************************

SENECA ROCKS PROTECTED!

The Bureau for Land Management has removed the Seneca Rocks - Spruce Knob NRA parcel from the auction block!

Click here to read the notice of changes to the auction.

Click here to read the joint press release issued by FOB, the Center for Biological Diversity and The Wilderness Society regarding the deletion of this parcel from the auction list.

Click here to read the Associated Press Article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday March 13, 2009.

Proposed oil and gas leasing on the Monongahela National Forest is threatening valuable recreation areas and pristine habitat for our imperiled bats and native brook trout. Click here to read the press release detailing the opposition to such actions.

Click here to read the letter submitted in protest of the March 18,2009 Lease Auction for this Parcel in the Seneca Rocks-Spruce Knob NRA. A parcel with underlying karst,that could be home to bats already threatened with white-nose syndrome, and bisected by Brushy Run, one of WV's few remaining pristine native trout streams.