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Residents of Sublette County say a plan for thousands of wells on the Pinedale Anticline does little to lessen the impacts of air pollution. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / BRADLY J. BONER

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A plan for drilling roughly 3,700 additional wells on the Pinedale Mesa would allow development to hurt wildlife populations, conservation groups and Sublette County residents say.

Critics also say the Pinedale Anticline drilling plan, released last week, contains language that allows industry to get out of commitments that would help protect the environment. The Bureau of Land Management said Friday the plan would go into effect in late July.

This planned increase, from about 700 wells currently allowed to 4,399, comes after researchers and state and federal agencies have documented contaminated water supplies, ozone violations and wildlife losses since approval of the original 2000 plan to drill on the mesa.

The mesa rises above the anticline about 100 miles south of Jackson in Sublette County. It is considered important winter wildlife habitat – deer that summer on Snow King Mountain winter there – and has been closed to humans, but not industry, in the winter.

The new plan would allow year-round drilling to continue. Further, it would allow 15 to 30 percent declines in population numbers and habitat for mule deer, pronghorn, sage grouse and sensitive species before efforts begin to stop any loss

Mule deer and sage grouse populations have already experienced unacceptable losses since the 2005 baseline described in the plan, said Linda Baker, an organizer with the Upper Green River Valley Coalition.

“I am concerned that the mitigation for wildlife would only occur if the population falls an additional 15 percent,” she said. “We had already achieved a 25 to 46 percent decline by 2005. That would mean a severe reduction before any mitigation is attempted. Biologically, I don’t find that the wisest management policy.”

She said the Bureau of Land Management persists with development around sage grouse leks, despite scientific evidence that these sage grouse are declining and need more space when displaying for mates in these sensitive staging grounds during breeding season. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering a proposal to protect sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

The anticline development plan would allow a 30 percent drop in the number of active sage grouse leks or a 30 percent decline in the number of males displaying on leks. The plan comes as Wyoming state officials have dedicated millions of dollars to protect the bird.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department conservation plan is to prevent further decline and to increase numbers, not to allow declines, she said.

For air quality, Baker said that industry has already violated standards for nitrogen oxides, and the Pinedale area received a number of ozone warnings this past winter. She said industry’s commitment to using the drill rigs with the best available technology is too little too late.

“On the positive side, it seems like BLM has finally admitted that they have the authority to reduce the pace of development, but they would only do that if the suggested technological innovation doesn’t work,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with Americans asking and expecting that the best available technology be used in these environmentally sensitive areas. [Best available technology] is being used in other places, where in Wyoming it’s being used as a bargaining chip.”

Both Baker and Steve Belinda, an energy policy expert with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership who once worked for Pinedale BLM, said the plan is rife with ambiguous language that allows industry to work around commitments to wildlife and the environment.

“I am over being burned with this language play,” Baker said. “I want a commitment. BLM has the responsibility to make sure that when they approve a number of wells they are complying with federal law, such as the Clean Air Act.”

Belinda said similar “weasel words” in the 2000 plan resulted in a failure to implement steps once air quality and wildlife began to suffer.

“Some of the smaller stuff got implemented, but it was a fight,” he said. “We’ve got dirty air, dirty water, and we’re losing our wildlife. In the end, hunters will be the first to lose.”

The plan for the Pinedale Anticline now includes language that commits industry to keeping ozone levels below what would trigger an air quality violation, said Caleb Hiner, a BLM planning and environmental coordinator for the Pinedale BLM office.

“BLM has committed to ensuring that this project will not commit an ozone violation,” he said. “We didn’t specify the exact measures that would be taken to achieve that.”

Hiner said the basic elements of the plan remain the same as the draft supplemental environmental impact  statement released in late December, namely about 250 new well pads for a total of 600 in a 45,415-acre core area. The core area is surrounded by a half-mile “potential development area” amounting to 24,875 acres.

To the east, the three operators, Ultra, Shell and Questar, would not develop roughly 49,900 acres for five years. The plan would also hold off on leasing 37,000 acres on the Pinedale Mesa until the Pinedale Resource Management Plan is completed later this year or in early 2009.

In exchange for these delays in drilling, the new plan would eliminate seasonal restrictions on drilling that conservation groups say are necessary to prevent losses to big game such as mule deer, pronghorn and moose. Hines said the five-year restriction on the 49,900 acres is part of a mitigation package that would help limit wildlife losses.

Other environmental mitigation efforts include the construction of liquids gathering systems and remote monitoring, which would both limit truck traffic to the well pads. Ultra, Shell and Questar would set up a “compensatory mitigation fund” that would entail an initial commitment of $4.2 million plus roughly $1.8 million each year based on the number of wells initiated on the Anticline. The fund would not exceed $36 million.

Hiner acknowledged that wildlife on the mesa has already declined, including a 46 percent decline in the mule deer population.

“The declining mule deer population, that’s always been an issue since the beginning of this document,” he said.

Pinedale resident David Smith said BLM’s plan offers little for people in Sublette County. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality issued a number of ozone warnings for the Pinedale area this past winter, prompting protests from citizens.

“We’ve been screaming bloody murder down here in Pinedale,” he said. “All [the BLM] is concerned about is leasing.”

Smith called promises about air quality “lip service,” and said that industry’s promise to use the best available technology to reduce emissions amounts to blackmail. “They are not going to enforce their own policies, standards and guidelines,” he said. “Industry gets anything it wants.”

In a joint statement, Ultra, Shell and Questar praised the decision.

“We are pleased that the SEIS is progressing and that we have reached this milestone,” industry officials said last week. “We are looking forward to a timely Record of Decision that allows implementation of the improved development plan so the communities and the environment can realize the associated benefits.”