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Environmental Quality

Field Notes


Charting a path for Wyoming

Posted on by Lisa McGee

In the Winter 2020 issue of Frontline, we address the future of Wyoming in the context of the ever-growing threat of climate change, and the associated impacts that market shifts are having on our communities.

Our state’s budget and local government revenue have long been dependent on taxes and royalties that flow from extracting coal, oil, and natural gas. As U.S. consumers and markets respond to irrefutable scientific data linking fossil fuel emissions to a warming climate, and with more competitive and abundant natural gas production in other states, Wyoming’s primary revenue streams will continue to wane. 

What does this mean for conservation? For one thing, state agencies like the Department of Environmental Quality will continue to have to work with shrinking budgets. Last month, we urged Gov. Mark Gordon not to cut funding for an air quality inspector — a position desperately needed in Sublette County with its dangerous spikes in ground-level ozone — from the state’s proposed budget. 

For another, it means short-sighted ideas — ideas inspired not by what’s best for Wyoming, but rather by the prospect of quick income — will gain traction. Bills that would transfer our public lands to the state or invite storage of the nation’s nuclear waste are two recent examples of this type of thinking we’ve worked successfully to defeat. 

The economic vulnerability of a state so reliant on one sector also means that decision makers are more susceptible to industry lobbyists who promise increased revenues and new jobs, while demanding fewer regulations. How else to explain the state’s ambivalence about a proposal to discharge 8 million gallons a day of oil and gas wastewater into Boysen Reservoir and its tributaries — threatening downstream drinking water and the Wind River’s prized fishery? Or the proposed legislation based on a wish list from the petroleum industry that would take away the Game and Fish Department’s authority to identify big game habitat? Or the Wyoming State Legislature’s attack on rooftop solar — the fastest growing industry in the nation? 

As national and global markets shift away from coal and other fossil fuels, Wyoming will be dealt a significant blow not only to our state’s budget, but also to families and communities who have built livelihoods and identities around this once-thriving industry. Wyoming governors, at least since the 1970s, have talked about the need to diversify the state’s economy. We understand that, if this were easy, it would have already been done. 

We at the Wyoming Outdoor Council certainly don’t have all the answers. That’s one of the reasons we asked several guest authors to give us their perspectives on the future they see for Wyoming. 

What we do know is this: We can’t ignore the reality of climate change. We have to support our friends and neighbors who have lost jobs and whose communities are struggling. And, as we look for answers to our state’s economic challenges, we can’t sacrifice our public lands, our wildlife, or our clean air and water in the process.

As the Code of the West wisely reminds us: We have to know where to draw the line. We also need to remember that some things aren’t for sale.

Throughout 2020 and beyond, we’ll continue to invite perspectives on these topics — dedicating space on our website and on social media for discussion. We’ll begin conversations in communities around the state and engage decision makers. With support and input from our members, we’ll address topics like our state’s tax structure, ideas for sustainable revenue generation, economic diversification, and initiatives that ensure that Wyoming remains a place where people want to live and can make a living. And we’ll never lose sight of our mission to protect Wyoming’s environment and quality of life now and for future generations. 

We’re all in this together — all of us who live in and love Wyoming — and it’s up to all of us to demand that our elected officials help us chart a courageous path forward. I welcome your thoughts and am grateful for your continued support of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. 

Field Notes


Nuclear waste storage: STILL wrong for Wyoming

Posted on by Steff Kessler

The idea of storing high-level radioactive waste in Wyoming has been fully vetted and roundly rejected several times over the years. Yet the Wyoming Legislature resurrected this bad idea last month when it formed a subcommittee — behind closed doors — to study the issue. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, our members, and our partners have stood together with neighbors from all over the state and across the political spectrum to oppose such proposals. And we will do so again.

Simply put, the risks of allowing Wyoming to become a destination for high-level radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear reactors far outweigh any short-term economic gain the state might realize. Storing nuclear waste here would risk our safety and tarnish Wyoming’s reputation as a pristine outdoor and tourism destination —  hurting business, agriculture, and economic development efforts that are so vital to the state’s future.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Wyoming and other states have learned that gambling with the federal government’s promises over nuclear waste storage is risky business. As Gov. Mike Sullivan put it in his statement vetoing the siting of a nuclear waste facility  back in 1992:

“I am absolutely unpersuaded that Wyoming can rely on the assurances we receive from the federal government. Even granting the personal integrity and sincerity of the individuals currently speaking for the federal government, there can be no guarantees or even assurances that the federal government’s attitudes or policies will be the same one, five, ten or 50 years from now. We have seen the roller coaster ride of federal involvement and attitudes. … Nor do I trust the federal government or the nuclear industry to assure our interests as a state are protected.”

There are numerous reasons why the “temporary” storage of the nation’s high-level radioactive waste in Wyoming has been repeatedly rejected by our residents — and why it remains a bad idea today.

  • There is no guarantee that storage will be temporary. Once a “temporary” facility is constructed, it is likely to become a de facto permanent repository. There are no legal, political, or financial mechanisms to ensure the waste would ever be removed. In fact, many suspect the approval of a “temporary” storage site would halt the politically difficult effort of finding a permanent disposal site.

  • There is no need to store this waste away from reactor sites. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made a regulatory determination that spent nuclear fuels can be safely stored at the reactor sites for the next 100+ years.
     
  • Transporting high-level radioactive waste across the country is complicated, risky, full of unknowns, and will occur at a magnitude of shipments and miles never before conducted in the U.S. New transport casks have not been developed or tested, infrastructure is not ready, emergency response capacity is lacking, and the routes and risks of transporting this high-level radioactive waste have not been adequately evaluated.

  • Storing high-level radioactive waste in Wyoming will hurt the state’s image as a premier outdoor destination and a producer of high-quality agricultural products. This, in turn, would likely impact current and future economic development and diversification efforts and would lower property values.
     
  • Such temporary facilities are illegal. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act allows for a “temporary” storage facility only once the permanent waste repository is operating. Work at Yucca Mountain, the nation’s only proposed permanent waste repository, has halted. Congress would have to act to make such a facility legal — yet there are no states willing to host a permanent storage facility.

For more background and details about nuclear waste storage, read this fact sheet.

We wholeheartedly support Wyoming lawmakers’ desire to explore new ways to meet the challenge of declining revenues. But turning Wyoming into the nation’s nuclear waste dump was a bad idea before, and it remains a bad idea today. Nothing has changed. Even more troubling? The closed-door manner in which the new legislative subcommittee was formed to study the issue this year: a vote taken by email, without public notice, lacking transparency and flouting the legislature’s own rules regarding interim studies.

There are no easy fixes for declining state revenue, and storing high-level radioactive waste would simply not provide not the kind of economic “diversification” that Wyoming needs. It’s an idea that looks backward, not forward. 

Instead, we must create a vision for our future that embraces the special resources and assets that truly make Wyoming a place people want to live and do business — including our strong public schools, workforce, wildlife, open space, agricultural heritage, and outdoor way of life.

We’ll need your help — again — to speak up and stop this misguided idea for Wyoming.

The “Spent Fuel Rods subcommittee” will meet on Thursday, September 5th, in Casper at 8:30 a.m. (location to be determined). We’ll be there, but it’s unclear whether the subcommittee will allow public comment. The subcommittee will report to the full Joint Minerals Committee on November 4 or 5 for a decision about moving forward with potential legislation. We’ll alert you about this public comment opportunity, but it will be helpful to start talking with your elected officials now about how nuclear waste is wrong for Wyoming. 

Read this detailed fact sheet for a list of committee members and emails and for more information about the risky business of high-level radioactive waste.

Field Notes


Energy Dominance: Wyoming is ground zero for ‘energy dominance’ mandate

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

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A new “energy dominance” policy has made Wyoming ground zero for the Trump administration’s anti-regulatory, top-down mandate to promote energy extraction over all other uses on our public lands. And it’s affecting every aspect of the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s work.

Nearly half of Wyoming’s surface acreage is public land (Bureau of Land Management, national forests and parks) and the feds own and manage minerals underlying millions of additional acres of private land. During past administrations, the federal government has often served as a check on the oil and gas and mining industries’ wishes to forego a necessary balance of multiple uses. Now, the industry’s wish list is the federal mandate — and a strategy of systematically shutting the public out of decisions affecting our public lands is the new normal.

“Well established democratic processes — such as the ability to comment on proposed federal actions — are viewed by the Trump administration as impediments. This policy of ‘energy dominance’ seeks to remove those impediments,” Outdoor Council Senior Conservation Advocate Dan Heilig said. “These are our public lands, and we’re being shut out — project by project and policy by policy.”

Consider a few of the actions the administration has taken in the last year and a half that stem directly from an energy dominance policy:

• Issued an executive order in March 2017 calling for a review of all federal actions that could hinder the exploitation of energy resources and infrastructure, and immediately revoking many Obama-era measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and protect against climate change.

• Removed regulations designed to improve the safety of hydraulic fracturing, as well as regulations seeking to reduce emissions and leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

• Rescinded the BLM’s oil and gas leasing reforms.

• Convinced Congress to scrap the BLM’s “planning rule,” designed to increase citizen participation in land-management decisions.

• Issued guidance to federal agencies to “streamline” environmental reviews by imposing arbitrary page limits and timelines.

• Scaled back science-based protections in West-wide Greater sage-grouse conservation plans that protect habitat for some 350 wildlife and plant species.

• Offered oil and gas lease parcels in critical wildlife habitats, popular recreation areas, and culturally and historically important landscapes.

Fighting to Keep the Public in Public Lands


Among the hallmarks of the National Environmental Policy Act — our country’s bedrock environmental law — are its requirements for federal agencies to notify and respond to the public about actions affecting the air we breathe, the water we depend on, and the landscapes and wildlife that define our quality of life. These requirements are fundamental to ensuring that the public has a say in what happens to our shared resources.

Since January 2017, however, we’ve seen federal agencies give shorter notice for oil and gas lease sales and shorten the length of time the public can comment on actions related to energy development and the management of our public lands.

Conservation organizations and citizens alike have also found it more difficult to ensure that our comments are even being considered. This year the BLM reported it couldn’t account for tens of thousands of missing public comments submitted in response to the Trump administration’s revised sage-grouse management plan.

Even federal employees who live in Wyoming confide their frustration that the democratic institutions that have long ensured public participation in federal policies are now being whittled away. These civil servants say they are relying on the public’s persistence and continued engagement.

Add to this Rep. Liz Cheney’s tellingly titled “Removing Barriers to Energy Independence Act” (HR 6087) to slap exorbitant fees on citizens who wish to protest oil and gas lease sales, and Sen. John Barrasso’s ONSHORE Act (S 2319) that would give authority to states to approve applications to drill on federal public lands, and it’s clear there’s a concerted effort to aid energy companies and remove the public from public lands management processes.

“We’re seeing policies coming out of Washington, D.C., to benefit the oil and gas industry,” Heilig said. “And their primary strategy? Putting up barriers to meaningful public input in agency decision making.”

What Energy Dominance Looks Like in Wyoming


Today, the BLM is ignoring past agreements with the state and offering lease parcels throughout southwestern Wyoming — including many inside critical wildlife habitats in the Greater Little Mountain area, in sage-grouse core areas, and in parts of the Northern Red Desert that have long been understood to be off limits to oil and gas development.

Even Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke’s overture to sportsmen — an executive order “to enhance and improve the quality of big-game winter range and migration corridor habitat on federal lands” — rang hollow. No sooner had Zinke signed the order than the Interior’s BLM proposed oil and gas lease parcels for sale inside the Red Desert to Hoback migration corridor — the longest mule deer migration ever recorded.

Although Gov. Matt Mead has urged the BLM to reconsider leasing in Little Mountain and the Red Desert to Hoback corridor, he and other elected leaders in Wyoming support many aspects of an energy dominance policy — which influences the actions of our state agencies. For example, the state’s wildlife and environmental quality officials are often reluctant to hold the line — or even weigh in — on efforts to roll back detailed, science-based wildlife stipulations and air quality measures carefully crafted under previous administrations. This is particularly concerning to those who live and hunt in eastern Wyoming, where the 5,000-well Converse County Oil and Gas Project (and other big drilling projects) are slated for approval within the next year.

And in July, Wyoming’s Office of State Lands and Investments offered dozens of oil and gas lease parcels in the Northern Red Desert — home to crucial winter habitat for big game, national historic pioneer trails, wilderness study areas, North America’s largest sand dune complex, and dozens of other historic, cultural, and natural resources. One parcel was even situated in the shadow of the iconic Boar’s Tusk.

These federal actions and policy changes are coming fast and furious. And they complicate nearly every aspect of our program work. Read on to learn what the Outdoor Council is doing to address these challenges and why we need your help.

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The Energy Dominance Mandate at Work: WOC’s Response

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Problem: Rollback of BLM rule to protect air quality and curb greenhouse gases.

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Solution We Seek: BLM keeps its good rule and Wyoming adopts strong statewide guidance.

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In 2015 the BLM finalized rules to limit the venting and flaring of natural gas, and required inspections of leaky equipment for new oil and gas wells. Because the pollutant is also the product for sale, not wasting it makes sound financial sense. Many companies, such as ExxonMobil, agree.

An industry trade group and three states, including Wyoming, sued. We joined public health organizations, conservation groups, and the states of New Mexico and California to intervene in defense of the rule — and successfully stopped the attempt to delay the rule’s implementation.

End of story? Not quite. Under the new administration, the BLM turned 180 degrees and attempted to rescind its rule. We joined partners to successfully challenge this unlawful move and demand that the BLM follow the legally required steps to repeal an established rule. The BLM’s new rule (which we expect will indeed scrap nearly all of the good elements of the 2015 rule) will be announced any day.

In this case, there’s also a state-level solution. For years we’ve urged Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality to issue its own guidance requiring companies to regularly inspect and fix leaky infrastructure in all new oil and gas fields. Wyoming does have such a requirement — but it pertains only to wells in the Upper Green River Basin. Late this summer we were happy to learn that Wyoming DEQ finally proposed guidance to apply these best practices statewide, and we’re working to make sure the measure is adopted and implemented.

We also want to see Wyoming lawmakers remove the severance tax exemption for flared natural gas, which would generate real revenue for counties and local governments.

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Problem: Federal and state oil and gas lease parcels are being offered for sale in some of the most iconic places and most crucial winter big game habitat in the Northern Red Desert.

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Solution We Seek: The BLM and the state agree to withdraw and no longer offer oil and gas leases in special places and important habitats.

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In July, the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments offered dozens of oil and gas lease parcels for auction throughout the state, including 34 parcels in the Red Desert — in remote areas with no roads or infrastructure to accommodate development. The parcels are in or near designated National Historic Trails, BLM Wilderness Study Areas, and critical big game and sage-grouse habitat.

Wyoming’s July lease auction demonstrates the influence of an energy dominance policy on state actions. Once federal lease parcels are offered in undeveloped areas — such as the Northern Red Desert — operators are motivated to nominate neighboring state parcels to shore up congruent lands for development.

The Outdoor Council led an effort asking the state to withdraw the 34 lease parcels identified as a threat to wildlife, cultural, and natural resources. The state withdrew only one it had slated for sale — the iconic Boar’s Tusk. Twenty-one of the state parcels received bids in July. We led another campaign to urge the OSLI board of commissioners not to authorize their sale. Our efforts prompted dozens of residents to testify to the wildlife, cultural, and economic values that would be degraded if drilling in this landscape is allowed.

There is a better way!​ ​We’re reminding state leaders that an exchange of these isolated state parcels for BLM lands elsewhere that are more conducive to development would provide a better guarantee of revenue while protecting this landscape.

We continue to monitor leasing actions by both the state and the federal government throughout Wyoming, and remain ready to defend against shortsighted policies coming out of D.C.

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Problem: Proposed oil and gas leases threaten sensitive habitat in the longest mule deer migration corridor.

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Solution We Seek: The BLM does not offer oil and gas lease parcels here.

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Every spring, thousands of mule deer make a 150-mile trek between their winter range in the Red Desert and lush habitat farther north. In the fall, often with fawns, they retrace their steps south.

This February, Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke issued an order to “improve habitat quality” in migration corridors. We applauded the move. But then the BLM announced it would offer multiple parcels inside the Red Desert to Hoback corridor for oil and gas leasing.

That’s a problem. We reminded Sec. Zinke and the Wyoming State BLM office that science shows drilling in vital habitats like migration corridors is harmful to wildlife, and we urged them to pull the parcels before the fall lease sales. We also helped a coalition of sportsmen and conservation partners do the same. And, after thanking Gov. Matt Mead for his initial support of this special corridor, we asked him to be even more vocal in its defense.

We’re also making sure citizens are aware of the problem, and that they know how to help fix it. Participants at our annual Run the Red event and the Tour de Wyoming bike ride — which both intersect with the corridor — were eager to contact Gov. Mead and speak out in its defense. We provided postcards for participants to submit comments to Gov. Mead, and, thanks to the generosity of a WOC member, we provided felt antlers which cyclists donned in a show of solidarity with the migrating deer.

In early August, BLM agreed to defer nearly 5,000 surface acres from potential oil and gas developments that intersect this vital corridor. Although this isn’t everything we asked for, it’s a good start. Thanks to all of you who let Gov. Mead and Sec. Zinke know that Wyoming’s wildlife habitat is worth defending! We’ll keep pushing to protect this and other special corridors.

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Field Notes


State’s inaction costs counties millions in wasted, untaxed natural gas

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

The Outdoor Council is asking the state to implement best practices in oil and gas fields that would save the state and counties millions of dollars by curbing intentional flaring and venting, and unintentional leaks of natural gas.

The Wyoming Natural Gas Waste Report, compiled by the Outdoor Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, finds that the state is missing out on an estimated $8.8 million to $16.1 million each year in unrealized tax revenue due to wasted natural gas. Of that statewide loss, $3.4 million to $6.5 million is uncollected ad valorem revenue — property tax that goes directly to counties. That money could have gone to the purchase of emergency equipment, or road and bridge repair, or human services like nurses and libraries.

The top five counties missing out on the most ad valorem dollars associated with wasted gas in 2015 were Converse, Goshen, Campbell, Laramie and Sweetwater. The total lost in ad valorem for those counties in 2015 was $2.8 million with an average of $560,000 per county.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has already successfully implemented — in one corner of the state — operational protocols that reduce the need for flaring and venting, as well as leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements. This program, implemented in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline gas fields in the Upper Green River Basin, is a proven cost savings to Sublette County as well as the operators themselves.

“Sublette County is not on the list of missing out on ad valorem dollars due to wasted gas,” said Elaine Crumpley, of Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development (CURED). “That is because oil and gas field operators in the Upper Green River Basin, basically Sublette County, have already been doing flareless completions and LDAR inspections for several years.”

It’s urgent that Wyoming expands this successful program to oil and gas fields statewide, because the industry is preparing for a major increase in drilling. Projects such as the 5,000-well Converse County Oil & Gas Project and the 1,500-well Greater Crossbow field may be approved for drilling as soon as 2019.

“Addressing this problem is common sense: reducing waste means increasing revenue. Clean air and public health are added bonuses,” Outdoor Council Executive Director Lisa McGee said. “The state can and should take action to require oil and gas operators in eastern Wyoming to implement frequent leak detection and repair inspections as they have successfully done in western Wyoming.”

The state needs to live up to its responsibilities to protect its clean air and to collect all revenue that is due to its citizens and communities that desperately need it. Insisting on methods that reduce flaring and venting, and protocols that detect and fix gas leaks is a proven win-win-win for Wyoming communities, oil and gas operators, and the environment.

“Our operators pioneered all these gas-waste management methods, and our gas fields are flourishing, with 11 rigs drilling today,” Crumpley said of the Upper Green River Basin fields. “From our experienced perspective, the rest of the state should follow our lead. It’s a major step in the right direction.”

Click here to read the Wyoming Natural Gas Waste Report.

 

Field Notes


Speak out!

Posted on by Lisa McGee

There’s a lot of bad news coming out of Washington these days, and Wyoming’s delegation needs to hear from you.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso is leading an effort to strip the BLM of its ability to reduce waste and deter pollution from oil and gas operations. After a long public process, the BLM has revised its decades-old rule related to natural gas waste on public lands—specifically it would require companies to fix leaky, faulty equipment and to reduce waste as much as possible. The rule, which was finalized late last year, is popular with the public. Common sense tells us that wasting finite natural resources has no benefit. It’s simply a bad practice that results in air pollution and lost revenue to the American people from royalties and severance taxes. According to estimates from the Western Values Project, Wyoming alone lost out on more than $60 million in royalties over the last five years due to venting, flaring, and unrepaired natural gas leaks on federal lands.

Some members of Congress are also trying to undo recent updates to the federal land planning process. Last year, the Bureau of Land Management released a rule that improved how the agency will plan for decisions made on our public lands. “Planning 2.0” as the BLM calls it, would ensure that the agency is more collaborative, more transparent, and more inclusive of citizen input. These improvements would move planning on BLM lands into the 21st century and are long overdue. Congress should not undo the years of work that got the BLM to this better place.

President Donald Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt has close ties to the oil and gas industry, has sued the EPA on numerous occasions, and has repeatedly demonstrated that he is ideologically opposed to the EPA’s core mission. We need an administrator who is dedicated to protecting the American people from harmful air and water pollutants, and from the threats of climate change—not someone who is at odds with those goals.

What Can You Do?

Please call Rep. Liz Cheney and Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and make sure they hear your voice!

  1. Ask them to vote “no” when the Bureau of Land Management’s “Methane Waste Rule” and “Planning 2.0 Rule” are considered for repeal under the Congressional Review Act. If Congress uses this act, the BLM will be prohibited from ever passing the same or similar rules again.
  2. Sen. Barrasso has already voted in committee to allow Pruitt’s nomination to move to a full Senate vote. Tell Sen. Barrasso you disapprove of his vote, and urge Sen. Enzi to vote against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator.

Senator John Barrasso Phone: (202) 224-6441

Representative Liz Cheney Phone: (202) 225-2311

Senator Mike Enzi Phone: (202) 224-3424

 

Field Notes


There is still time to comment on Governor Mead’s Energy Strategy

Posted on by gliffen

Earlier this year, Governor Mead’s office hosted listening sessions around the state to collect thoughts from the public on the second phase of the Wyoming Energy Strategy.

The governor’s office has now compiled the results of those listening sessions into a list of four separate categories of possible initiatives that must be narrowed down to create the final version of the state’s updated energy strategy. They seek your help in this process.

The strategy as it is can be improved to better safeguard Wyoming’s public lands, air and water quality, and wildlife. Please take a moment to offer your input, either by taking the four initiative-ranking surveys (one for each category) on the governor’s website or by writing an e-mail to the governor and his staff at energy.strategy@wyo.gov by October 30, 2015.

For the Wyoming Outdoor Council take, see our letter in which we urge Governor Mead to emphasize air quality protections, carbon emissions reductions, public health and quality of life among the state’s energy and environmental priorities.

Thank you for lending your voice during public input sessions over the summer and for taking the time to seal the deal in this finalization process.

Sincerely,

Amber Wilson
Environmental Quality Advocate

Field Notes


Media Release: Bold New Rule Will Cut Oil and Gas Air Pollution in Wyoming

Posted on by gliffen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2015

Contact:
Kelsey Robinson, (512) 691-3404, krobinson@edf.org
Chris Merrill, (307) 349-7288, chris@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org

 Gaspatch5_CR_web

Bold New Rule Cuts Oil and Gas Air Pollution in Wyoming

To improve regional air quality, state leaders target pollution at existing oil and gas sources

PINEDALE – The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council today approved a new rule to reduce pollution from oil and gas activity and improve air quality in the state’s Upper Green River Basin.

“This is a landmark day for clean air in Wyoming, which joins a select group of leading states who are tackling air pollution from existing oil and gas sources,” said Jon Goldstein, Senior Policy Manager at Environmental Defense Fund. “. Governor Mead, the Environmental Quality Council, and the Department of Environmental Quality deserve praise for a strong, fair, and sensible set of requirements that will significantly reduce air pollution in the Upper Green River Basin and better protect the health of local residents.”

As oil and gas activity in this region of Wyoming has expanded, so too have levels of unhealthy smog. These pollution levels caused the area to fall out of compliance with federal ozone standards. The rule approved today is one of only a few across the country that require operators to apply pollution controls not only on new wells and compressor stations, but also to retrofit old equipment. These cost-effective strategies received support from conservation groups, energy companies and local residents across the region.

“This new rule will protect the people who live and work in the Pinedale area,” said Bruce Pendery, Chief Legal Counsel with the Wyoming Outdoor Council. “This community has waited a long time for the state to get this pollution under control. The measures approved today should go a long way toward accomplishing that goal and protecting public health. None of this would have been possible without local citizen involvement and a general willingness on the part of all parties involved to collaborate and come up with a solution that just about everyone could agree on.”

This EQC’s decision underlines Wyoming’s role as a leader in developing solutions to the risks posed by oil and gas development

“This rule reflects a strong, Wyoming-developed solution,” Goldstein said. “This decision can form the template for better statewide controls on both new and existing sources of pollution as oil and gas development dramatically increases in new parts of the state.”

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Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading international nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on our Energy Exchange blog, Twitter and Facebook.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council (website) is Wyoming’s oldest independent conservation organization. We’ve worked for more than four decades to protect Wyoming’s environment and quality of life for future generations.

 

Field Notes


You Can Help Protect the People of Pinedale

Posted on 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 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 WilsonAs 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


Let’s talk about the merits of the BLM’s fracking rule

Posted on by Gary Wilmot

The following letter was published as an opinion piece by executive director Gary Wilmot in the Casper Star-Tribune on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

gary_square_200x200On the heels of last week’s announcement of the Interior Department’s new fracking rule, the state of Wyoming followed the lead of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance and filed a lawsuit opposing it.

To date, the press releases from industry groups and the governor’s office have focused primarily on what some view as federal over-reach. But little has been said about the actual rule or its merits. Let’s change the focus of our conversation. Safeguarding public health and our shared natural resources is in everybody’s best interest.

Without a doubt Wyoming has been a leader in its regulation of hydraulic fracturing. In fact, the state has already adopted many of the provisions the new fracking rule calls for. And one of the best things about the new rule is that it provides states like Wyoming the opportunity to request a variance when their own rules are as strong as or stronger than the federal one.

For instance, Wyoming has been a leader in requiring that companies publicly disclose chemicals used in fracking, and the state also recently improved its oversight of chemicals considered to be “trade secrets.” As such, the state should be granted a variance for these regulations. Wyoming is already ahead of the BLM in other areas, too – most notably in its requirement that companies collect baseline water quality before fracking. The new BLM rule does not require baseline testing, an we think it should.

Unfortunately, not all states share Wyoming’s foresight on fracking: Some don’t regulate the practice at all, or do so in less protective ways. Unfortunately, environmental problems don’t stop at the state line. But because the new BLM rule applies to fracking on federal public lands, it gives not only Wyoming citizens but all Americans assurance that public health and safety is better protected by putting in place a safety net – a minimum standard that all states must meet.

Notably, some of what the BLM will require does provide better protection for human health and water resources than Wyoming’s rules do. For example, the BLM will require testing to confirm well-bore integrity on every well drilled. This is important. Industry representatives have, over the years, told the public that it is not fracking per se that poses a risk to groundwater, but rather problems with well-bore integrity. The BLM is now calling on industry to be accountable in this regard. This is a commonsense, best-management practice that industry and Wyoming should get behind.

States and the federal government have a joint responsibility to protect public health and our shared natural resources. It’s not always an effortless path, but it’s clearly one worth pursuing. Lawsuits are easy to file. The harder work is keeping up the conversation, focusing on the merits of rules – and on the people and resources those rules seek to protect. A substantive conversation is what will actually move our state and country forward as we work toward a truly responsible energy strategy.