12/2/1997 271

SUIT THREATENED AGAINST SALE OF FEDERAL LAND IN CALIFORNIA TO GIGANTIC OIL COMPANY

On November 26, 1997, the Southwest Center informed the Department of Energy that it intends to file suit to force the agency to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its plans to sell Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 to Occidental Petroleum. The Reserve is in the uplands of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, CA and is home to numerous endangered species including Hoover's wooly-stars, Kern mallows, San Joaquin wooly-threads, San Joaquin kit foxes, Giant kangaroo rats, Tipton kangaroo rats, and blunt-nosed leopard lizards.

The sale of this crucial wildlife area flies in the face of the Fish and Wildlife Service's draft Recovery Plan for San Joaquin Valley Upland Species which recommends protection of the Reserve"in perpetuity" to avoid extinction and promote recovery of the species. It also violates a 1995 Biological Opinion which expressly requires the Department of Energy to consult on impacts to the species if it ever attempts to privatize the Reserve.

The Southwest Center is represented by Daniel Rohlf of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (Portland) and Tara Mueller of the Environmental Law Foundation (San Francisco).