Changing 150-year old industry practices in 15 years

Migrating birds encounter a myriad of anthropogenic hazards throughout their journey: collisions with power lines, communications towers, wind turbines, buildings and windows; exposure to pesticides; and often fatal contact... [ view full abstract ]

Migrating birds encounter a myriad of anthropogenic hazards throughout their journey: collisions with power lines, communications towers, wind turbines, buildings and windows; exposure to pesticides; and often fatal contact with oil from spills and oil pits. Oilfield waste stored or disposed of in exposed earthen pits or open-topped tanks poses a hazard to wildlife, especially birds. The use of earthen pits for disposal remained oil industry practice for decades resulting in the loss of an estimated 2 million birds annually in the 1990s. The earliest reported bird mortality incident in an oil pit occurred in 1936 followed by additional reports in Wyoming in 1956, California in 1964, and Colorado in 1973. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) initiated an extensive outreach effort in the 1990’s designed to inform the oil industry of the problem and provide practical solutions to mitigate the risks of oil pits to birds. The extensive outreach effort consisted of informational workshops (3), presentations at oil and gas symposiums and industry association meetings (10), flyers, posters, a website, and one-on-one interaction with state and federal regulatory agency personnel and oilfield employees (469 site visits over a 15-year period). Although changes were not immediate, the long-term outreach efforts resulted in the overall recognition of the problem by the oil industry and implementation of best management practices to prevent or minimize wildlife mortality in the oilfields. As a result, the estimated annual bird mortalities from oil pits dropped to an estimated 500,000 to 1 million. I will provide examples of the various outreach methods we used, discuss which were the most effective in changing industry practices, and how this effort influenced relationships with the oil industry and state and federal oil and gas regulatory agencies.