Field Notes

A message from former staff member Richard Garrett

Posted on April 29, 2015October 29, 2019 by gliffen

April 24, 2015

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Richard Garrett, outgoing legislative advocate and energy analyst

I write to you today—my last—as a staff member of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. I am proud to say I will remain a lifetime member of our great organization. Although I am leaving the staff, I will always be a part of this incredible group. Because just like you, I am WOC.

After eight years on staff, lobbying in Cheyenne and in every corner of this great state, one thing is certain: Participation matters. People matter. Members matter. You definitely matter. When I went to Cheyenne, I went there on your shoulders.

Believe me, there are a lot of industry lobbyists in Cheyenne and they always outnumber conservationists. Often ours is the only voice speaking up for conservation and for the environment in committee rooms, in the lobby, and in the corridors of political power—I was your voice and I’m thankful you put me there. Your trust and support ensured that our ideas, our vision, and the importance of our mission were heard and never taken for granted.

As I look toward a new opportunity with another organization, I am profoundly appreciative of the role the Wyoming Outdoor Council plays. We have a proven track record of grassroots advocacy, combined with an investment in the legislative process. This has resulted in real success and well-deserved credibility throughout the state.

But if we want to be more successful we need to grow. We need more people to receive these emails. We need more members to stand behind the staff. During my time on the staff, the total number of our members that we were able to report to decision makers grew to more than 1,500—yet that never truly reflected the number of people that I know share our values and know the importance of our advocacy. A larger, more representative, membership would mean greater influence with legislators and the governor.

You can help. You can add to our ranks today. You can give a gift membership to somebody who you know shares our values. You can share this post with people who you believe would want to stand with us.

And so I have a challenge for you. I pledge that I will do everything I can to make sure our membership grows. And to help make that happen, I am offering a match. I will give one gift membership for every gift membership we receive between now and May 8 this year.

Thank you for joining me in this effort. It has truly been an honor to advocate on your behalf. I am excited to think about what the next eight years will bring to our rugged group. I know we are better prepared than ever to help protect Wyoming and we’re eager to give to the next generation the same gifts—clean air and water, vast open spaces, abundant wildlife, thriving communities—that were given us. The more people we have on our side, the better we will do. I am WOC, you are WOC, we are WOC. Let’s add to our ranks today.

All my best,

Richard

Field Notes

You Can Help Protect the People of Pinedale

Posted on April 28, 2015October 29, 2019 by gliffen

Show your support for proposed air pollution controls that will help protect people who live and work in the Pinedale area.

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The EQC will hold a hearing in Pinedale on May 19 where these rules will be considered. We hope that the proposed rules will be approved at this meeting—that way these important changes can be implemented as quickly as possible.

Public Hearing
Tuesday, May 19, 9 a.m.
Lovatt Room, Sublette County Library
155 South Tyler Ave., Pinedale, WY

For more information on this rulemaking, please visit the EQC website or the Air Quality Division website. Please be sure to let us know if you have any questions.

These measures, if approved, would for the first time address dangerous air pollution from what are known as “existing sources”—the pumps, compressors, and other oil and gas equipment already in place and in operation around Pinedale.

Click here for further background and details.

Field Notes

Good setbacks make good neighbors

Posted on April 13, 2015October 29, 2019 by gliffen

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is set to finalize the state’s updated setback rules tomorrow, April 14th. The proposed rule suggests an increase of only 150 feet from the current 350-foot requirement. In the Casper Star-Tribune on Sunday, April 12, Environmental Quality Advocate Amber Wilson outlined a strong argument for the state to increase the setback distance beyond the proposed 500 feet and to include more specific best practices to protect public health and safety.

Amber Wilson As the state finalizes new setback rules, which will help regulate how closely oil and gas development can occur to homes, I want to address some assertions made in a recent op-ed by John Robitaille of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. In particular, I would like to address the argument that a larger setback than the proposed 150-foot increase would create unmanageable problems for landowners and harm an important industry that supports our state economy.

First, industry representatives have often said that they want to ensure the safety of our communities. We believe them. But history tells us that not all operators approach development with the same level of care, and because of this, reasonable rules are necessary to ensure that all developers are accountable to that promise. That’s why we believe the state should do better than the currently proposed 150-foot increase to the existing setback rule.

We all benefit from oil and gas development, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive as a community to achieve better practices. I was born and raised in southwest Wyoming and graduated from the University of Wyoming. I’m grateful for the economic benefits oil and gas development brings to our state, but I also recognize we can be grateful and still ask for common sense approaches to developing oil and gas that protect people as much as they do access to the resource.

The state’s current 350-foot setback rule was established when well pads were much smaller and the equipment and materials that occupied them, less invasive. We have all seen today’s oil and gas fields, with 10- and sometimes even 20-acre well pads, where full-scale industrial operations are taking place, and where 10 or 20 wells can be drilled from the same pad. The current proposal for setbacks from homes, which industry and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming support, is 500 feet. And that’s measured from the wellhead(s), not the edge of the well pad.

Mr. Robitaille suggested that a setback requirement larger than 500 feet would remove flexibility, impose upon landowner rights, and end opportunities for negotiation between landowners and drillers. This is simply not true. Both the current and proposed rules state that the setback distance can be “increased or decreased for good cause.” We support good cause variances that allow flexibility and acknowledge landowner rights and operator’s mineral rights. These variances open the door for negotiation between the parties.

An even more elegant and common sense solution, from our perspective, would call for reduced flaring and improved leak detection and repair inspections on wells that are drilled within a quarter mile of residences and workplaces. This would address waste, as well as public health and safety concerns.

On that note, another misleading statement was that flaring is necessary for the protection of onsite employees. This is only part of the story. The kind of flaring that is done during drilling or during an emergency is indeed necessary and important as it protects workers and anybody else nearby. But there is another kind of flaring — the long-term kind — that the Wyoming Outdoor Council would like to see reduced. Flaring for safety should not be confused with wasteful flaring that is done for expediency’s sake. After a well is drilled and completed and is in production, companies can and should be required to capture natural gas, and either use that valuable resource on-site for power or send it to market. Companies should not be allowed to waste billions of cubic feet of our nation’s natural gas over the course of months and years while an oil well is in production—simply so these companies can defer the hassle of planning ahead, paying severance taxes, and conserving an important, non-renewable resource.

We are all part of a tight-knit community in this state. It’s important that we treat each other as the neighbors that we are. This involves respect, both for landowner and mineral rights, clean air and water, a safe backyard playground and a productive hay field. Let’s be the state we know we can be: one that respects economic benefits while using common sense to guide how close a well pad can be to our homes. Good fences make good neighbors; so do good setbacks.

Field Notes

New Fracking Fluid Disclosure Requirements Will Benefit Wyoming

Posted on February 9, 2015October 29, 2019 by gliffen

By Bruce Pendery, chief legal counsel
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On January 23, Wyoming’s Seventh Judicial District Court approved a settlement of our lawsuit over the disclosure of chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing. This settlement is another step in the right direction for Wyoming, as it will make it more difficult for companies to receive “trade secret” exemptions from disclosing fracking chemicals to the public.

We engaged in this lawsuit because we believe the public has the right to know which chemicals are being injected underground during fracking.

We credit the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and Halliburton for working cooperatively with us to improve the Commission’s disclosure policies for the benefit of Wyoming citizens. Personally, I’m confident that full transparency will ultimately win out in Wyoming because it’s the right thing to do and it’s in the best interest of both industry and the public.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Earthworks, and the Center for Effective Government jointly brought the lawsuit in 2012 after the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission agreed repeatedly, at the request of industry, not to disclose many of the constituents of fracking fluids to the public.

Wyoming became the first state in the nation in 2010 to require oil and gas companies to disclose the identities of chemicals used during fracking. Under this rule, companies are required to disclose the constituents of fracking fluids to the Oil and Gas Commission, which then, pursuant to the Wyoming Public Records Act, can be reviewed by the public.

However, the Commission had been granting a significant number of requests from industry not to disclose these constituents under claims that they were protected as “trade secrets” or “confidential commercial information.”

Initially, the district court ruled against us in 2013, so we filed an appeal with the Wyoming Supreme Court. And in March 2014, the Supreme Court issued a decision validating our claims and reversing the trial court decision. Among other things, the Supreme Court held that the Wyoming Public Records Act “creates a presumption that denial of inspection is contrary to public policy” and adopted a stringent test for what constitutes trade secrets, one that had been adopted by federal courts.

The court ruled that the exemption from public disclosure for trade secrets is narrow and the public’s right to the information is paramount, with the burden on the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to show that secrecy is justified.

Following lengthy and laborious negotiations over about eight months, the parties were ultimately able to reach a settlement. In addition to the Oil and Gas Commission, there was one industry intervenor involved in the negotiations and settlement, Halliburton Energy Services. Reaching this settlement required all the parties, including the Wyoming Outdoor Council, to work with each other in a cooperative manner that was oriented toward finding solutions, not perpetuating dispute.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, companies seeking a trade secret exemption from fracking fluid constituent disclosure will have to comply with new, much more stringent requirements that we believe should allow the Oil and Gas Commission to more appropriately determine whether a trade secret exemption request is legitimate.

Please get in touch with me (bruce @ wyomingoutdoorcouncil-dot-org) if you would like to know the details of these new requirements.

This settlement will help ensure there is better accountability to the public, and better transparency in general. It will also help ensure that significant public concerns about groundwater contamination due to the use of fracking fluids and potential impacts on public health are fully considered and illuminated. And it will help prevent companies from evading disclosure requirements based on weak claims that the chemicals are so-called trade secrets. All of this is good progress.

Note: Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping water, sand, and chemicals at high pressures down oil and gas drill holes so as to fracture rock such as shale and tight sands and release oil and gas. Coupled with its companion technique directional drilling, fracking has been responsible for the large increase in the production of oil and gas in the United States.

You can click here to read the settlement.

Field Notes

How to Curb Wasteful Flaring: Wyoming’s opportunity to protect its citizens and maximize revenue

Posted on January 21, 2015October 29, 2019 by gliffen

“Based on an analysis of Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data, in the 10 months from January to October 2014, almost 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas was flared. That’s enough gas to fuel as many as 11,000 Wyoming homes—the equivalent of nearly every household in Gillette—for an entire year.”

Click here or on the image above to read more!

Click any image below of a gallery of info-graphics from this report:

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Field Notes

Speak up for air pollution controls in Pinedale next week

Posted on December 4, 2014October 29, 2019 by gliffen

You have two great opportunities to speak up for the Upper Green River Basin and support proposed air pollution controls that will help protect people who live and work in the Pinedale area.

Winter Ozone Open House
Tuesday, December 9, 6-8 p.m.
Lovatt Room, Sublette County Library
155 South Tyler Ave., Pinedale, WY

Wyoming Air Quality Advisory Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 10, 9 a.m.
Lovatt Room, Sublette County Library
155 South Tyler Ave., Pinedale, WY

We hope you’ll come out and make sure your voice is heard!

Background and details:

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In recent months, the state has been considering some common sense and generally strong pollution controls for oil and gas development in the Upper Green River Basin.

These proposed measures, if approved, would unquestionably reduce dangerous air pollution from what are known as “existing sources”–the pumps, compressors, and other oil and gas equipment that is already in place and in operation around Pinedale.

Wyoming Outdoor Council members know that we’ve worked long and hard, along with many others, to get the word out about this area’s dangerous ozone pollution. And that we’ve also helped provide the state with a broad range of important technical and practical input–advocating key pollution controls, such as “leak detection and repair,” that will help protect the public health.

It has been an important effort, and one that we’re proud of. While we won’t get everything we’ve asked for, if the draft rule is adopted, we’ll have gotten a lot.

This proposed approach of “leak detection and repair” has proven especially effective in other places when it comes to controlling the emissions that can cause serious air pollution problems including ground-level ozone. It also helps to significantly reduce the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially natural gas. And, of course, fixing leaks captures a marketable, taxable product that would otherwise be wasted. These are reasonable, cost-effective measures.

While the rule can still be improved, it’s also important for the health and quality of life of the communities in the Upper Green that the proposed pollution controls be adopted as soon as possible.

What can you do?

Help us convince the Air Quality Advisory Board that it should recommend these proposed pollution controls to the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council. Once we achieve that, improvements can still be made, but more importantly the new rule can be implemented as quickly as possible.

Here are two changes to the proposal that we are recommending:

Expand requirements for leak detection and repair to all emission sources, including pneumatic controllers and pumps.
Change the threshold for leak detection and repair from facilities emitting four tons of volatile organic compounds per year to two tons. This would require a great many more existing polluters to reduce emissions and it would thus result in a significant reduction in the amount of harmful pollutants emitted into the air we breathe.

We hope you’ll be able to attend one of the above meetings and ask the Air Quality Advisory Board to send this proposed new rule to the Environmental Quality Council for approval. That way the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality can begin implementing these important changes as quickly as possible. Please be sure to let us know if you have any questions!

Field Notes

Guest Column: New study helps identify greenhouse gas pollution sites

Posted on November 24, 2014October 29, 2019 by gliffen

Note: This guest column by EDF’s Jon Goldstein provides an overview of the EPA’s newly developed approach to methane leak detection, as well as some recommendations as Wyoming considers new rules to reduce harmful ozone pollution.

What We Can’t See Can Hurt Us: New Study Provides Insights to Find, Fix Oil and Gas Pollution

By Jon Goldstein, EDF | Bio | Published: Nov. 24, 2014

How do you detect a colorless, odorless gas? It’s an important question especially when that invisible gas is as damaging as what comprises oil and gas pollution. We are talking about hazardous air pollutants (benzene), ozone precursors (volatile organic compounds), and greenhouse gases like methane – a gas that is more than 80 times more damaging than carbon dioxide to the climate in the short term.

Widely available tools like infrared cameras and hand-held hydrocarbon detectors are very effective at detecting leaks from oil and gas equipment, but new technologies and new science are always welcome.

That’s what makes a new paper in the journal Environmental Science and Technology exciting. Led by experts from EPA’s Office of Research and Development, and co-authored by EDF’s David Lyon, this study uses a new technique to identify and measure methane emissions at oil and gas facilities.

A new approach

The EPA-developed approach (known to scientists as Draft Other Test Method 33A) locates sites with methane emissions using mobile, downwind measurements and estimates the size of these leaks using dispersion modeling. Vehicle-mounted devices and mobile methods like the technologies used in this study are a fast-emerging and exciting new tool in the battle to find and fix wasteful methane leaks.

In addition to helping prove up a helpful new draft method, the data collected in the study is also important as air regulators in Wyoming, and elsewhere, look for ways to reduce oil and gas pollution. The report includes measurements from 210 production sites in the Barnett Shale region of Texas, Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin, and the Upper Green River Basin gas fields surrounding Pinedale, Wyoming from 2010 to 2013. A statistical analysis of this data shows two very interesting results:

Only less than 10% of the variation in emission rates could be explained by production levels, which suggests unpredictable events, such as malfunctions and maintenance, have a strong influence on emission rates.
Low production wells can emit a greater portion of their gas production, which may be due to more maintenance issues at older, lower producing sites.

What does this mean?

In the Wyoming context, it means the state is smart to be addressing older–potentially leakier–existing sources of emissions in its ongoing UGRB rulemaking, and that inspecting as many of these emissions sources as regularly as possible will help reduce air pollution. Mistakes (like malfunctions or forgetting to close a tank hatch) happen, but regular leak detection inspections will help catch as many of these as possible.

Frequent inspections at a broad array of sources is exactly what EDF has been advocating as Wyoming considers new rules in the UGRB to reduce harmful ozone pollution. This approach is consistent with recent regulatory efforts in Colorado and Ohio and is proven to be effective. Other states should take note if they too want to improve oil and gas air pollution, reduce waste, and provide better outcomes for communities who live near oil and gas fields.

Field Notes

Photo Album: Submissions to the “My Wyoming” Photo Contest!

Posted on September 16, 2014October 29, 2019 by gliffen

Post by Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Field Notes

Wyoming Outdoor Council founder Tom Bell to be honored

Posted on August 1, 2014October 29, 2019 by gliffen

The grand opening of a new World War II bombardier display at the Lander Pioneer Museum, featuring donations from Wyoming Outdoor Council founder Tom Bell, will take place on Saturday, August 2.

The public is invited to a reception at the museum from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Light refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Tom Bell grew up on a ranch outside of Lander during the Great Depression. He was descended from Civil War soldier Edward Alton, who moved to Milford, Wyoming, in 1878.

Bell is a decorated World War II veteran, who flew with the 15th of the U.S. Army’s Air Forces on bombing missions throughout central and southern Europe. He successfully completed 32 combat sorties and earned the rank of 1st Lieutenant with the 455 Bombardment Group.

He was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action on May 2 1944. On May 10, 1944, Lieutenant Bell was bombardier of a B-24 on a mission to bomb an enemy aircraft factory in Austria, when he was severely wounded by a burst of flak, causing him to lose his right eye and suffer shock and loss of blood.

When he returned home he found sanctuary in Wyoming’s wide-open spaces. Bell attended the University of Wyoming where he earned a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree in wildlife conservation and game management. His course of study emphasized ecology and zoology.

Bell said he founded the Wyoming Outdoor Council because, by the mid-1960s, he could no longer ignore the threats facing his “beloved homeland.”

He has now donated his medals, uniform and other items to the Lander Pioneer Museum.

“This display is in recognition of Tom’s illustrious service to his country,” said Randall Wise, visitor service coordinator for the Pioneer Museum. “We also want to honor him for all his work at this museum and in the service of the history of the Lander Valley. If it wasn’t for Tom’s years of dedication and research, much of the history of this area would be lost.”

Bell’s artifacts will become part of the museum’s armed forces exhibit on the second floor.

“This is a great addition to our museum,” said Curator Connie Shannon. “It’s especially significant since Tom is a Lander native. This display will tell his heroic story.”

Tom taught science and Wyoming history in Lander for many years. He is also a renowned local historian and the former author of the Wind River Mountaineer.

For more information please call the museum at 307-332-3373.

Field Notes

Weigh in on Wyoming’s Water Strategy

Posted on July 18, 2014October 29, 2019 by gliffen

Recognizing the importance of water in Wyoming—and the fact that states throughout the West expect more frequent shortages of freshwater in the coming years—Governor Matt Mead is developing a statewide water strategy. There are 59 potential initiatives that resulted from numerous listening sessions hosted around the state last fall. These have been published and the state is seeking input from citizens to help narrow that number to just a few that will receive priority. Until August 4th, you can provide your input via four short surveys distributed by Governor Mead’s office.

The Outdoor Council believes Wyoming needs a strategy that ensures water is available to future generations, but also one that is farsighted enough to conserve the fish, wildlife, and other resources we enjoy today. That’s why we hope you’ll join us in (1) voicing opposition to two initiatives that would be especially bad for Wyoming and (2) supporting some of the better possible water strategy initiatives.

Two Dam Proposals On The Upper Green River Would Be Bad for Wyoming

Although the state must identify ways to ensure the availability of future water supplies, the Outdoor Council believes water conservation and protection should be our focus.

New dam construction doesn’t make sense for Wyoming. Good dam locations are limited by geography and today the most viable locations have already been developed or are off-limits for good reasons. In fact, many states these days are dealing with the long-term problems of poorly sited dams and are now working to remove them. Yet, there are proposals in the Governor’s water strategy to build several new dam projects in Wyoming. We are most concerned about two large projects considered for the iconic Upper Green River: One near the headwaters of the Green, at the foot of the Wind River Range and the other at Warren Bridge, near Pinedale.

You can let Governor Mead know that you oppose these proposed dams by CLICKING HERE TO TAKE THE GOVERNOR’S WATER DEVELOPMENT SURVEY. You’ll be able to rank the Warren Bridge Dam Permitting and Green River Lakes Reservoir as well as other dam proposals as “not favorable” (1 on the scale). You can also send your own personal comments to the Governor’s Office until August 4^th.

To read more about these proposals and the risks they pose to fish, wildlife, and iconic landscapes in northwest Wyoming, click HERE.

Several Initiatives are Worthy of Support

The Outdoor Council has highlighted four of several measures—these are the ones we proposed to Governor Mead during community listening sessions last year—that we believe are among the initiatives most likely to create a proactive, conservation-based water management strategy capable of adding security to the future of Wyoming’s resources. These include:

Unified Public Database — All water quality and quantity data should be available in a single location and database. This initiative would require legislative funding and guidance to bring all water and climate data from agencies on quality, quantity, surface and groundwater into a single database.
Groundwater Analysis and Control — This initiative would seek changes in rule or statute so that areas would automatically become Groundwater Control Areas if groundwater use outstrips recharge It would also result in cooperative studies, led by the State Engineer, to explore the agreements, assurances, regulations, and markets that can be leveraged to manage use and demand within the areas.
Temporary Use Protection Policies — This initiative would develop appropriate mechanisms to increase flexibility for temporary use transfers without the risk of a given water right holder losing his/her right. Temporary water use agreements can only be utilized for 4 years due to the risk of abandonment. This initiative would protect the original quantity and use for a longer duration as long as the short-term use was truly temporary and resulted in no harm to other users.
Credible Climate Weather and Stream Flow Data — Attention to climate and water will increase over time. In order to prepare for questions and challenges, Wyoming needs robust scientific data. This initiative would result in work to fund additional climate and stream flow data collection throughout the state.

Please help us by taking Governor Mead’s Water Management Survey and rating these four initiatives immediately above as “highly favorable” (10 on the scale).

You can view the rest of the possible initiatives here, where you’ll find other positive measures such as: Drought and Climate Variability Planning, Surface Water Recharge Areas (underground water storage), an Ecosystem Services Pilot, a Watershed Management Incentives Program, and a Major Conveyance Task Force Project (to repair leaking/malfunctioning/outdated irrigation infrastructure).

Please Help!

Your input can be given on each of the 59 possible initiatives by taking all four surveys, as well as by writing to the Governor’s office. Comment and survey responses will be accepted until August 4^th.