Shaking in their boots

Western Watersheds Project and Oregon Natural Desert Association have done it again: put the fear of reality in the public lands ranchers across the west. And the reality is this: get while the gettin's good, folks. Your reign of terror on the ecosystems of the American West is swiftly coming to a close.

Nothing like a cool $20 million to show them the door.

El Paso Corp.'s Ruby Pipeline, LLC will donate more than $20 million during the next 10 years to set up two conservation funds to preserve lands and wildlife habitat near the pipeline, said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a partner in the endeavor.

The two entities and the Oregon Natural Desert Association recently established the Sagebrush Habitat Conservation Fund.

The fund is designed to protect and restore sagebrush habitat for sage grouse through the purchase and retirement of federal grazing permits offered by willing sellers.

The groups had to agree not to litigate or delay the pipeline's construction in exchange, which tends to make the "No Compromise!" folks among us a little nervous.

It's a big gamble, as litigation would have been. No telling whether lawsuits would have stopped the pipeline; no telling whether they still will. But the hew and cry from the ranchers and the counties and the states shows that the conservation groups are definitely onto something:

"Creating a federal buyout program is a dangerous step toward ending grazing on public lands, which would have a devastating impact on local economics throughout the West and would have unintended consequences on the environment," Simpson said in a press release. (Via)

We're dying to know all about those economic consequences, like saving the taxpayers $500 million a year, for starters. Sounds just awful!

We know it isn't simple, and there's a lot of land to be wrecked by the Ruby pipeline if it goes through. We're as devastated as anyone by the extent to which our dependence on oil and gas has completely screwed the planet. But unless we deal with that- with the supply and demand economy- these types of trade-offs are probably par for the course. Let's hope it works.

And let's hope that the ranchers see the writing on the wall and take the buy out. That would be win-win.