SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
CONECUH COUNTY, Ala. — Environmental organizations are pushing back against a federal proposal that would open the entire 83,000-acre Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama to oil and gas drilling, arguing the move threatens one of the most biologically diverse forests in the country.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Alabama Ornithological Society filed a formal objection Monday to a U.S. Forest Service plan that would allow oil and gas leasing throughout the forest. The proposal follows a 2025 executive order issued during the Trump administration directing federal agencies to identify public lands suitable for expanded domestic oil and gas production.
In its decision, the Forest Service contends that expanded leasing would foster domestic mineral development while still allowing the agency to meet its obligations to protect forest resources under existing laws.
Environmental groups strongly disagree.
The Conecuh National Forest, located along the Alabama–Florida border southeast of Evergreen, provides habitat for 19 federally protected species, including red-cockaded woodpeckers, Eastern indigo snakes, Escambia map turtles, and Gulf sturgeon. The forest also contains extensive longleaf pine ecosystems, among the most endangered forest types in the world.
Currently, only 1,000 acres within the forest are under active oil and gas leases, with just one producing oil well.
“The Conecuh is a biological and recreational oasis that should be protected, not plundered by oil and gas companies,” said Lindsay Reeves, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Endangered Species Program. She warned that expanded drilling could lead to toxic spills, water pollution, and irreversible damage to public lands.
The Forest Service previously acknowledged environmental risks in a 2004 environmental impact assessment and determined in a 2021 review that the Conecuh had low development potential. Critics note that the agency’s latest decision does not address climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.
The groups also argue drilling would interfere with prescribed burns essential to maintaining healthy longleaf pine forests and are urging the Forest Service to reverse course.