BLM prevents listing endangered plant, promotes oil shale development

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) successfully influenced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to withdraw a 2006 proposal to list Graham's penstemon, a rare wildflower found in Utah and Colorado, as a threatened species. Internal documents reveal the BLM formed a "strike team" specifically to prevent this listing to facilitate oil and gas and oil shale development. The BLM provided misleading data regarding the plant's habitat slopes and falsely claimed no overlap between the species' habitat and potential oil shale development zones. Despite these assurances, a 2008 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) opened over 90 percent of the proposed critical habitat for commercial oil shale leasing. Conservation groups subsequently sued the FWS in 2008, alleging the agency ignored scientific evidence and relied on unproven BLM conservation measures.

• The BLM established a dedicated internal effort, referred to in emails as a "tight strike team" and the "Penstemon "No Listing" Team", with the explicit goal of preventing Graham's penstemon from being listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
• The BLM misled the FWS by claiming that Graham's penstemon grows on slopes too steep for oil and gas wells, asserting the plant was not "spatially coincident" with well locations; however, BLM data showed approximately 62% of the plant's area has slopes of 10 degrees or less.
• The BLM falsely assured the FWS in 2006 that "no overlap exists between proposed and potential future oil shale/tar sands development and species habitat", but its November 2008 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) opened over 90 percent of the proposed critical habitat for commercial leasing.
• The BLM intentionally used conditional language in its final comments to inflate uncertainty and downplay the impact of energy development on the plant's pollinators, despite internal awareness of a BLM-funded study highlighting the need for ecosystem management for pollinators.
• The FWS withdrew its proposal to list the plant on December 19, 2006, relying heavily on BLM comments and disregarding the assessments of three independent peer reviewers who supported the listing.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2009). BLM prevents listing endangered plant, promotes oil shale development. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/blm-prevents-listing-endangered-plant-promotes-oil-shale-development

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. BLM prevents listing endangered plant, promotes oil shale development. 2009. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/blm-prevents-listing-endangered-plant-promotes-oil-shale-development.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=BLM prevents listing endangered plant, promotes oil shale development |date=10 July 2009 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/blm-prevents-listing-endangered-plant-promotes-oil-shale-development |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2009blm, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{BLM prevents listing endangered plant, promotes oil shale development}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2009}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/blm-prevents-listing-endangered-plant-promotes-oil-shale-development}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }