Environment: Capitan Clash

Watt vs. Smokey Bear

Secretary of the Interior James Watt does not like to paddle. He does not like to walk. But he does like to see the U.S. exploring for mineral resources, even if they happen to lie underneath those areas that Congress has declared protected wilderness, “where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Environmentalists and their friends in Congress moved to forestall Watt earlier this year, when they used an obscure provision of the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act to prevent oil and gas exploration in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness. But they did not move fast enough to protect another area, New Mexico’s spectacular 34,000-acre Capitan Wilderness, which the Interior Department has quietly opened for oil and gas exploration. Last week Watt outflanked the environmentalists and avoided a congressional committee vote that could have reversed the decision and set back all his plans to “unlock” wilderness areas, at least for exploration.

The Capitan action was initiated last May when the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the mountainous area, home of the original Smokey Bear, made two Southern oil companies an offer they could not refuse: a chance to lease land within the area even though no environmental assessment about the effect of mineral exploration had been made. The companies were awarded three leases in September without any public announcement. It was not until earlier this month, when an official of the Wilderness Society discovered some documents pertaining to the agreement, that Washington became aware of Interior’s actions. Environmentalists were outraged. So was Congressman Manuel Lujan Jr. of New Mexico, ranking Republican member of the House Interior Committee. To stymie Watt, Lujan introduced a resolution that would bar from future drilling not only the Capitan area but all 28 million acres of designated wilderness in the 50 states.

Secretary Watt moved just as fast.

Late in the week, he met with Lujan and two other Republican committee members and promised them that no drilling would take place in any wilderness area until Congress had been notified and a full environmental assessment prepared. Lujan promptly withdrew his resolution and the threat to block future drilling. But environmentalists stirred other members of the committee into action. By 40 to 1, they called for a six-month moratorium on wilderness leasing to give Congress time to study Watt’s new policies and, if necessary, write protective legislation. Meantime, the environmentalists may bring Interior to court over the Capitan deal. The two oil companies still hold leases that could permit them to drill in Smokey’s own back yard.