AUSTIN¾ Thanks to state and federal closures of the Texas Gulf Coast to shrimp, Kemp's ridley sea turtles are nesting on Texas beaches in numbers not seen since the turtle recovery program began in 1978, with at least 19 nests having been identified to date. But the turtle is still highly endangered. Kemp’s ridleys once nested by the tens of thousands along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Mexico, and a 15-year gas drilling campaign planned on Padre Island National Seashore, where most of the nests have been found, could disrupt the recovery program.

"It’s great news that the turtles are getting to the beaches to nest. Unfortunately, once they get to the beach they might be greeted by a dozen eighteen-wheelers," said Brian Sybert, Natural Resources Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. "The recovery of the Kemp’s ridley population could be disrupted by an oil spill or the tractor-trailers that will be barreling down the beach every day for the next fifteen years. With the positive benefits we're seeing from the shrimp closure, it's more important than ever that everything possible is done to make Padre Island hospitable to nesting turtles."

The number of nests found to date is a record high since the turtle recovery program in 1978. Advocates of the drilling and apologists point to this year's improved nesting numbers as evidence that BNP Petroleum Inc.'s "aggressive drilling campaign" on Padre National Seashore is having no impact on the turtle recovery program.

According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, however, the number of nests found to date is attributable to a reduction in shrimp trawling offshore. Though TPW has closed state waters to shrimping in the Gulf from mid-May through mid-July for two decades, last year was the first time a near-shore closure to trawling was implemented off Padre Island beginning in December. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kemp's ridley nesting season runs from April through October

The extended closure, originally intended to allow shrimp to grow to a larger, more valuable size, provides additional protection for sea turtles during the critical times when mating and nesting occur. TPW has also been buying back and retiring shrimping licenses since 1995, further contributing to improved turtle nesting numbers. TPW is set to buy back another 122 licenses, which will bring the total number of licenses bought back by TPW up to 800.

While TPW takes these steps to improve offshore conditions for the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, however, Padre Island National Seashore has begun approving a series of oil and gas wells on the Seashore itself. It has done so without examining the impacts of oil and gas development on nesting sea turtles, as required by the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

"The Park Service didn't take the precautionary steps required by law for the turtle before they issued the drilling permit," said Fred Richardson of the Lone Star Chapter. "They didn't conduct a thorough study of how 15 years of heavy truck traffic might effect the turtles, so they really don't know what kind of impact this might be having. For all we know there might be twice as many nests this year if it weren't for the trucks. Now more than ever they need to make the beach safe for nesting turtles and hatchlings."

The simple fact of increased nests does not exonerate the Park Service from its duties under the Endangered Species Act. "The Endangered Species Act sets as its target the full recovery of endangered species," said Sierra Club Attorney Sanjay Narayan. "The idea is to move species to the point at which they no longer need protection, not leave them teetering on the brink of extinction."

Case law has helped clarify this section of the Endangered Species Act. In Sierra Club vs. USFWS Service, 245 F.3d 434 (5^th Cir. 2001), a federal appeals court held that "…the objective of the ESA is to enable listed species not merely to survive, but to recover from their endangered or threatened status."

"The Act places an obligation on all federal agencies to work towards recovery," said Mr. Narayan. "The most basic element of that obligation is to look at what you’re doing to make sure that you aren’t impeding recovery."

In February the park granted a permit to BNP Petroleum, Inc. of Corpus Christi to drill for natural gas in the dunes of the seashore. The company has applied for another permit for two more wells, and park managers estimate that BNP will drill 18 wells in total over the next 15 years.

BNP officials have gone so far as to suggest that the drilling campaign is having a beneficial effect on the turtles, and offer as evidence the role a BNP truck driver played in reporting a turtle nest to park officials.

While BNP officials have repeatedly claimed that the truck driver discovered the nest, park managers have stated that recreational visitors found the nest, and flagged down a BNP driver in order to ask him to notify park officials about the nest. Meanwhile, another Kemp's ridley nest was found in the middle of the beach "road" that BNP's trucks use on a daily basis. Had the nest not been discovered, the eggs may well have been crushed by one of BNP's heavy rigs.