A U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee will hear testimony later this month on a bill that could protect up to 1.2 million acres in the Wyoming Range from drilling, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso announced Wednesday.

The Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee hearing on the Wyoming Range Legacy Act of 2007 is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 27.

U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas conceived the bill before his death and Sen. John Barrasso introduced it late last year.

Barrasso’s bill would protect more than 1.2 million acres of the range from future energy leasing and would allow existing leases to be bought back and the land preserved.

“The Wyoming Range represents the heart and soul of Wyoming, and a wonder for those that come from all over to experience it,” Barrasso said in a statement. “This hearing is a monumental step toward enhancing the tourism, recreation, grazing and hunting economy of the Wyoming Range. The bill will preserve the range as a key part of Wyoming’s natural heritage.”

Bridger-Teton National Forest officials announced they will take a new look at oil and gas leases on 44,720 acres of the Wyoming Range this spring after the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled their previous environmental analysis inadequate.

Two energy companies, Plains Exploration and Production Co. and Stanley Energy, have proposed more than 300 wells on the Hoback Rim and west of Merna, both in the Wyoming Range.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council, The Wilderness Society and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition protested several lease sales starting in December 2005, saying the Bureau of Land Management ignored possible adverse effects of energy development on the 44,720 acres to the Canada lynx and air quality that should have been considered in the National Environmental Policy Act analysis. The Canada lynx is protected under the Endangered Species Act.