Congress wants Westerners to testify on wildlife

DENVER — Congress is asking Westerners to talk about their efforts to protect wildlife and the interests of hunters and anglers in the face of the energy boom cascading through the Rockies from Montana to New Mexico.

Dan Gibbs, a Democratic state representative from Colorado, plans to be there. He's sponsoring legislation to minimize drilling's impact on state and private land and hopes Congress will do the same for federally owned land.

"It's a big part of our heritage and culture," Gibbs said of the hunting and fishing industries. "If we continue to develop the way we're developing, we're going to lose much of our heritage."

Gibbs, a former staffer for Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., is among seven people, including an energy company official, invited to speak Tuesday before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources. The topic: Conflicts between sportsmen and energy developers on federal lands.

Committee member Udall said he and other Western lawmakers had long requested such hearings but were turned down when Republicans controlled Congress. California Republican Richard Pombo headed the committee that writes many environmental laws until he lost his bid for an eighth term in November.

Pombo topped environmentalists' political hit lists because he supported energy development, selling public lands and overhauling the Endangered Species Act. National groups spent more than $1 million to unseat him.

Now, Udall said he believes Congress might look at state initiatives like the one Gibbs is sponsoring.

Westerners want to do their part in supplying the country with energy, he emphasized. "But we shouldn't be put in a position where our very way of life is diminished or even eliminated because we've done our part," Udall said.

Sportsmen's concern over access to public lands because of expanding oil and gas development prompted the hearing, said committee chairman Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.

"This hearing is planned as a forum for the folks who want to ensure that public lands continue to provide hunting and fishing opportunities for future generations," Rahall said in a written statement.

That goal has united the "hook and bullet" crowd — anglers and hunters — with environmentalists who don't want to see energy development overwhelm public lands, which make up 30 percent or more of many Rocky Mountain states.