Conservationists, sportsmen agree with plan
Bridger-Teton wants no drilling on 44,000 acres.
By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
February 3, 2010
A proposal to prohibit energy development on more than 44,000 acres in the Wyoming Range is drawing praise from conservation groups and sportsmen, who say the area is too important to drill.
Bridger-Teton National Forest announced the plan in a draft environmental impact statement last week.
“These 44,000 acres of leases are right in the heart of our winter operating area and crucial to our summer operating, as well,” said Aaron Bannon, environmental stewardship coordinator for the National Outdoor Leadership School. Bannon said the school runs adventure courses for 14- and 15-year-olds and backcountry ski courses in the Wyoming Range.
“I don’t see how they could develop here and not impact the NOLS operation,” Bannon said. “If they were to develop here, we would lose the Wyoming Range as a NOLS classroom.”
Gary Amerine, owner Greys River Trophies, said the drilling would hurt the outfitters who consider the Wyoming Range some of the best hunting in the lower 48 states.
“The infrastructure – the roads and the pipelines – would have impacted the experience our summer guests would have had, and it would have impacted hunting opportunities,” he said. “There’s enough there in the Wyoming Range that’s already leased and under development. There’s other existing leases that they can go forward with, and this provides a nice balance.”
Steven Brutger, Trout Unlimited Wyoming energy coordinator, agreed.
“That’s exactly what we’ve been hoping for,” he said. “I would applaud the forest for making this recommendation. It recognizes the value of that landscape and the value of preserving it for future generations.”
Under the forest’s proposal, “the leases under suspension would be canceled and the leases under protest not awarded,” according to a draft supplemental environmental impact statement released Thursday. “There would be no opportunity for exploration and or development in the areas covered by the 44,720 acres” near Merna.
Energy development in the area might be inappropriate because of air quality and wildlife impacts, according to the document.
The public had successfully protested lease sales there to the Interior Board of Land Appeals, saying the Bureau of Land Management neglected to properly analyze the impacts of development on air quality and Canada lynx. In August, the BLM rejected 23 leases on the 44,720 acres, or roughly 24,000 acres of the area in question. Several energy companies have since protested that decision with the Interior Board of Land Appeals.
Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton defended the plan in a statement.
“The no-leasing alternative avoids impacts to the Canada lynx and precludes cumulative impacts to air quality and mule deer,” she said.
There are more than 9,700 existing wells and more than 10,000 more wells proposed in Sublette County near the Wyoming Range. While emissions from drilling in the 44,720 acres alone was not likely to impact air quality, the environmental impact statement said, “when combined with other emissions in the basin, they would likely contribute to the cumulative impacts that are occurring.”
As for wildlife, the environmental document outlined a list of impacts from drilling.
“Generalized effects on wildlife habitat from the action alternatives include loss of habitat, disturbance, road related effects and effects on linkages [primarily to Canada lynx] and migration routes [primarily elk and mule deer],” the document said. “The habitat is being used at the present time and is believed to be of crucial, immediate importance to the small remaining lynx population in the Wyoming Range.”
Drilling would also impact various fish and amphibian species, including the Colorado River cutthroat trout and the Columbia spotted frog, according to the Forest Service.
The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States declined to comment, and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming did not return calls for comment.
Leasing on the 44,720 acres helped prompt the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which protects 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range from oil and gas drilling. The 44,720 acres were not included in the bill because the bill’s language precluded existing leases.
The public has 45 days to comment on the proposal. The final decision is to be in May.
Written comments must be submitted to: Bridger-Teton National Forest, Attention Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton, P.O. Box 1888, Jackson, WY 83001. Comments via telephone must be provided during normal business hours to 739-5500 or in person. Electronic comments must be submitted in rich text format or Word to comments-intermtn-bridger-teton@fs.fed.us. A copy of the draft supplemental environmental impact statement is available on the Bridger-Teton Web site.
