That's the gist of a cautionary report issued today by the Wilderness Society, an activist group warning that the pace and scope of the West's oil and gas "frenzy" is potentially incompatible with other important economic engines.
"Areas that are not taking care of their surrounding landscapes and land and water resources will have much less to offer in the future and will degrade their potentials for long-term sustained prosperity," said Larry Swanson, an economics professor at the University of Montana.
The report, Natural Dividends: Wildland Protection and the Changing Economy of the Rocky Mountain West, argues that — overall — the role of oil and gas development and other extractive industries is small, but the significance of public lands and other amenities has grown.
The report follows one issued in June by the Colorado School of Mines that characterized the oil and gas industry as a major economic force in the state, contributing $23 billion to the state's economy.
Industry officials pointed to that report as one lawmakers should consider before toughening oversight of oil and gas development's impact on Colorado landscapes and small towns.
But conservationists and some economists said the School of Mines report failed to detail the cost side of the industry — and its potentially harmful effects on wildlife and the hunting and fishing economy, as well as its impacts on quality of life through greater air pollution, contamination of water and industrialization of Colorado's scenic landscapes.
"We must ... ensure that the extractive industries only take place in the right locations, at the right pace and with appropriate safeguards or we risk damaging the very amenities — such as healthy wildlands, clean water and wildlife habitat — that are driving the Rocky Mountain West's diversified economy," said Michelle Haefele, an economist with the Wilderness Society.
Haefele noted that while resource extraction, including oil and gas development, has local economic importance to scattered communities, the industries aren't big contributors to personal income in the Rocky Mountain region.
The contribution of oil and gas extraction is roughly where it was 30 years ago in the Rockies — about 1.3 percent of total personal income in 2005, the most recent year of data available, according to a press release summarizing the report.
"Clearly, most Western counties are not resource dependent, but instead have developed diversified economies that increasingly depend on recreation, retirees and the professional and service sectors," Haefele said.
Officials at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, an industry group, didn't immediately respond to requests for comments on the report.
