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By Richard Garrett, Jr.
Your voice for conservation at the Wyoming State Legislature

THE WYOMING HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WILL BEGIN DELIBERATING a bill this week meant to establish stronger standards for landfills in Wyoming.

The bill, Senate File 121, has already passed the Senate.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council worked hard with many others to strengthen this legislation before it reached the House, and barring amendments we are now encouraging its passage into law. Here is why.

Before the landfills bill was sent to the full Senate for a vote, it was substantially rewritten based on the efforts and discussions of a broad range of stakeholders who came together in an effort to reach a consensus.

This group’s participants included State Sen. Eli Bebout (who introduced the original bill), the Wyoming Outdoor Council and other conservation groups, the City of Casper, the Fremont County Solid Waste District, and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in an advisory capacity.

As a result of our efforts, the bill now correctly and explicitly references well-established federal standards for landfill designs.

What this means is that the state’s groundwater resources—the water aquifers under and near Wyoming’s existing and future landfills—have been afforded crucial protections.

Our members can be assured that we’ll continue to be engaged in the implementation of this law, should it pass, and during the rule-making process at the Department of Environmental Quality. We’ve done good work but there’s more work to be done.

“This bill essentially affirms what the federal government requires for the protection of groundwater and for the storage of solid waste at municipal landfills, and that’s a good thing,” said Steve Jones, watershed protection program attorney for the Wyoming Outdoor Council. “This bill makes it clear that municipal landfills will now be required by the state to meet important protective standards for underground aquifers.”

REACHING A CONSENSUS

This year’s original landfills bill was crafted closely after a bill that failed in 2009, one which we strongly opposed.

We were against the 2009 bill and we were against this year’s original bill because each would have failed to accomplish what we know is one of the most important tasks for the state’s Department of Environmental Quality—water resource protection from the consequences of badly designed and poorly sited municipal landfills.

With the support of our members, we were able to encourage Senator Bebout, fellow conservation groups, landfill operators, and advisors from the DEQ to reach a consensus on a good substitute bill.

Assuming it’s not amended and is approved by the house, we will encourage Gov. Matt Mead’s signature.

It is common wisdom in Wyoming, if not a common commitment, that the state’s groundwater is our most precious natural resource.

From Sundance to Rock Springs and in the halls of the Capitol, you’ll often hear people repeat the phrase that in Wyoming “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.”

It’s a way of recognizing how crucial water is to a state that is, in large part, a high plains desert.

The fact is, though, that underneath all of our sage and sand lies a lot of water. Some of it is highly saline and laced with a variety of minerals but much of it is clean and entirely fit for drinking—and fighting over.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council and its members have a long history of standing up for the state’s water resources and the people that depend upon them.

The Council’s water protection program, headed up by Steve Jones, has worked from border to border to try to make sure that water is protected from the possibility of contamination by development and is thus available for future generations. And we’ve fought for clean water at the Capitol in Cheyenne, too.

We know that water will continue to be the inspiration for some fighting in this state. But, with this bill, we believe we’ve won an important battle along the way.

If you’d like to know more about SF 121—or any other bill—please be in touch with Richard Garrett, the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s legislative advocate, at richard@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org; 307-438-9516.

By Richard Garrett, Jr.
Your voice for conservation at the Wyoming State Legislature

THE WYOMING STATE LEGISLATURE IS POISED TO REPEAL an important environmental, cultural, and historical land designation this week when the Senate will likely vote to strip the state’s Environmental Quality Council of its authority to identify special landscapes as “very rare or uncommon.”

This ill-advised bill has already passed the House, and its passage in the Senate seems, to most observers, hardly in doubt.

If the bill does pass, it will be interesting to see if Gov. Matt Mead will sign it—or if, like his popular predecessor, he is willing to resist laws and lawmakers that ignore historical and environmental contexts, and defy conservation traditions, in the name of making all of the state available for all types of mining and drilling.

The “very rare or uncommon” land designation was originally created by the Legislature in 1973 (it was first called “unique and irreplaceable”).

The protection afforded by such a designation is modest but important: it simply means that non-coal surface mining is not allowed in a place determined to be “very rare or uncommon.” Thus the designation doesn’t affect sub-surface mining, oil and gas development, or other sub-surface resource development, and it doesn’t even preclude surface coal mining.

Since 1973, the Environmental Quality Council has used this designation to recognize a few important historical locations around the state as well as a handful of state wildlife habitat management areas and petroglyph sites—and, perhaps most importantly, to recognize the crown jewel of Wyoming’s Red Desert: Adobe Town.

All told, in nearly four decades, the designation has been conferred on a tiny portion of Wyoming’s lands: approximately 200,000 acres of the state’s more than 62 million acres (or on about .3 percent of the state’s total acreage).

Given these facts, the Legislature’s assault on this designation seems both odd and disproportionate. We would expect Wyoming’s elected officials to have more sympathy for the state’s unique places, wildlife, geology, and plants.

CHALLENGES TO DESIGNATION BEGAN ON ’09

The very rare or uncommon designation was first attacked by the legislature in 2009 when it tried to wrest the authority over the process from the executive branch.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal was alert to the challenge and quite rightly vetoed the bill.

Having failed in that attempt, a few legislators (with enthusiastic support from the oil and gas industry, mining interests and county commissioners) decided instead to simply strip the authority of the EQC to designate very rare or uncommon lands, while also opening the door to removals of previous designations by applicants and petitioners.

Thus places such as Adobe Town, the Fetterman battle site, Devil’s Gate, Gotheberg Draw, Eagle Roost and many others will be vulnerable for years to come to those who believe any recognition—however modest in description and scope—threatens energy and resource development in Wyoming.

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR

If you’d like to let your senator hear your concerns about this bill, here is a list where you can find your senator’s contact information: Click here.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council will be seeking an amendment to the bill, one that would remove all of Section 2 on page 3—this is an easy message to communicate to your senator and it keeps our objective simple to understand.

If adopted, the amendment would mean that no removal of previous designations would be possible.

For further information, please be in touch with me, the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s legislative advocate, Richard Garrett: richard@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org; 307-438-9516

“Full Moon at Island Lake” by Scott Copeland. Photo taken at night in the Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.


By Bruce Pendery

THE STATE OF WYOMING MET A DEADLINE in January when it submitted its revised plan to the Environmental Protection Agency to help clean up the air in wilderness areas and national parks.

Wyoming is required by the EPA’s 1999 regional haze rule to create a plan to manage industrial air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, that cause haze and can spoil views over the nation’s most beloved natural landscapes.

The pollutants that cause haze can also be dangerous for people to breathe.

Wyoming’s latest plan, which is now under review at the EPA, marks an important step toward achieving much-needed reductions in industrial air pollution—but it still needs to be improved.

We are asking the EPA, working with the state, to improve and strengthen Wyoming’s plan before it is finalized to ensure that we fulfill the vision of the Clean Air Act and that we do our level best to protect our world-renowned wilderness areas and national parks.

What is Regional Haze?

Regional haze is the pervasive degradation of natural visibility caused by air pollutants emitted from a diverse array of sources over a large geographic area. It is not the obvious plume of pollution that you might see from a power plant, rather it is the general “white out” that sometimes obscures the remarkable 100-mile views we love so much in Wyoming.

Regional haze is caused by major sources of air pollution such as mines and power plants, minor sources such as cars and trucks, and small local operations such as gas stations. Where we live, regional haze is caused by local sources of air pollution, but it is also caused by air pollution blowing in from Idaho, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and even international sources. Forest fires can also cause temporary spikes in haze.

In Wyoming, significant amounts of the haze-producing air pollution come from the state’s five coal-fired power plants and its three major trona mines.

One of the most effective ways for the state to make the needed visibility improvements will be to oblige the power plants and mines to use what’s called the best available retrofit technology to clean up their emissions.

What are Class I Areas?

When it comes to regional haze, there is particular concern for “Class I areas.” Class I areas include most wilderness areas and national parks, and some other special places. They are beloved landscapes and forests that citizens want to see maintained in their natural condition.

All told, there are 156 Class I areas nationwide, seven in Wyoming.

Under the Clean Air Act, Congress declared a national goal for “the prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I federal areas which impairment results from manmade air pollution.”

The seven Class I areas in Wyoming are Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and the North Absaroka, Washakie, Teton, Bridger, and Fitzpatrick wilderness areas. These are spectacular places with magnificent views that are valued by Wyoming residents, as well as people nationwide, and even internationally.

America’s natural heritage includes the ability to see the Grand Tetons clearly when we climb Gannett Peak, Wyoming’s highest peak, in the Bridger Wilderness Area of the Wind River Range. Residents and visitors should be able to see the Bighorn Mountains 100 miles away on the other side of the Bighorn Basin when they are hiking in the North Absaroka or Washakie Wilderness Areas.

The EPA’s “regional haze rule” seeks to ensure this naturally clean air remains clear.

What is the EPA’s Regional Haze Rule?

Given the far-seeing (pun intended) goal established by the Clean Air Act, and the importance Americans attach to protecting Class I areas, in July 1999 the EPA established regulations for the protection of visibility in Class I areas from the impacts of regional haze. These regulations are known as the “regional haze rule.” These regulations are directed at controlling the numerous sources of pollution that contribute to regional haze and that degrade visibility in Class I areas.

The goal of the EPA’s regional haze rule is to attain natural visibility conditions in Class I areas by 2064.

The rule requires the states to develop an implementation plan that will make “reasonable progress” toward the goal of having natural visibility conditions by 2064.

One component of the required plan is a long-term strategy designed and implemented by the state that provides enforceable emissions limitations, compliance schedules, and other measures needed to get back to more natural visibility conditions.

One of the most important requirements of the regional haze rule is for the installation of upgraded technology on certain old plants and operations that cause or contribute to visibility impairment in Class I areas.

In Wyoming, the Department of Environmental Quality has determined that seven major sources of air pollution need to upgrade their outdated pollution controls, including two major trona mines and their associated plants near Green River, and five of Wyoming’s coal-fired power plants. These technology upgrades are called best available retrofit technology, or BART, a pervasive term you’ll encounter in the regional haze arena.

There are three air pollutants that the regional haze rule primarily regulates: particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. Requiring upgrades in pollution control technology is the most effective way to control the emission of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, and Wyoming is planning to use an emissions trading program for controlling sulfur dioxide.

It’s Time to Put In Place a Strong Regional Haze Plan in Wyoming

It is our hope that the EPA will now work with the state of Wyoming to strengthen and improve its strategy to reduce regional haze before the plan is finalized. A stronger plan is needed to ensure natural, clear air over Wyoming’s most cherished landscapes; and it would also make the air healthier, in general, for Wyoming residents.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council submitted comments on the two previous versions of Wyoming’s regional haze rule implementation plan asking for these needed improvements. You can read those comments by clicking here and here.

We raised a number of concerns regarding Wyoming’s proposed implementation plan.

These include the failure to put in place adequate additional regulations of the oil and gas industry; the need to focus attention on the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wilderness Areas because the data show that Wyoming sources of emissions have particularly large impacts on visibility in these areas; a need to significantly reduce the time allotted to reach natural visibility conditions (in some Wyoming Class I areas the draft plan would not lead to natural visibility conditions until 2165, a full century after the 2064 regional haze rule goal); a need to define enforceable emissions limits for certain sources such as the Mountain Cement Company and some of the units at the Dave Johnston power plant; concerns that the sulfur dioxide trading program may not get better results than what could be achieved through technology upgrades; and the need to require Wyoming power plants to use a technology called selective catalytic reduction, which would reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides emitted.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council believes that natural visibility conditions should prevail in Wyoming’s Class I areas by 2064, and that regulatory provisions which ensure this should be put in place promptly.

Our Plans for Achieving Regional Haze Rule Compliance

We plan to actively participate in the EPA’s review and approval of Wyoming’s proposed plan to reduce regional haze. We will ask the EPA to ensure the deficiencies in the previous drafts are corrected.

While the objective of the regional haze rule is to reduce haze in our iconic Class I areas, these pollutants can also harm human health everywhere, so better control of them will have widespread public health benefits.

Achieving those two goals—protection of our National Parks and Wilderness Areas and protecting the public health—will continue to form the basis for the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s activities in this arena.

For More Information

If you want more information on the regional haze rule you can visit the DEQ web pages devoted to the topic here and here, or the EPA web page here.

Contact: Bruce Pendery, Wyoming Outdoor Council staff attorney and program director, bruce@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org; (435) 752-2111

A personal note from the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s Lisa McGee:

Dear Outdoor Council Members and Supporters,

I write to you today in celebration for the great news we received recently about the Wyoming Range.

On Tuesday, the Bridger-Teton National Forest released its final decision regarding the fate of 44,720 acres of contested oil and gas leases along the eastern front of the Range.

I am happy to report that the U.S. Forest Service has listened to the public—the citizens of Wyoming and of the nation—who said this place is too special to drill.

After more than six years of uncertainty, the agency has decided it will not lease these acres for oil and gas development.

This is significant not only in the short term, but because these acres fall within the boundaries of the Wyoming Range Legacy Act withdrawal area—the 1.2 million acres that in 2009 were protected by law from any future oil and gas leasing—they will never be developed.

This decision ensures that the hunting, fishing, hiking, and other recreational activities that make the Wyoming Range so popular and valuable to our state and our nation will now be protected for future generations.

Outfitters will continue to take clients to these acres in search of deer and moose; anglers will still seek moments of solitude in clear mountain trout streams; hunters from southwest Wyoming will remain loyal to their hunting camps, returning each fall with friends and family as they’ve done for generations; and the elusive Canada lynx and other wildlife will have a chance to thrive on these lands without the threat of new industrial development.

Oil and gas development will continue to play an important and prominent role in Wyoming—but here, on these lands in the Wyoming Range, our outdoor heritage will remain intact.

Striking a balance is what good land management is all about. And with this decision not to lease these cherished lands, the Forest Service has made an important step toward striking that balance.

I realize the many actions I’ve encouraged you to take over the years on behalf of the Wyoming Range are leaps of faith. Many of you have understandably questioned whether a heartfelt letter, an official comment, an email to an elected official, or attendance at a public meeting really matters. It seems that often we participate only to learn later that a project we were hoping to avoid has gone forward.

In this case, our voices were heard and a decision was made that protects one of our most treasured landscapes in Wyoming.

I often close my correspondences with the phrase: “Together we can make a difference.” In this instance, I am thrilled to say that together we DID make a difference.

Thank you, our members, supporters, and partners, for standing up for one of Wyoming’s heritage landscapes.

Sincerely,

Lisa McGee

p.s. North of the 44,720 (now protected) acres, our work on the proposed 136-well drilling project in the Upper Hoback area of the Wyoming Range continues. There was incredible turnout at three public meetings last week in Jackson, Bondurant, and Pinedale.

I’ll keep you updated with additional opportunities to weigh in as the March 11th comment deadline nears.

LM

Click the image:

Aerial View of “The 44? with a backdrop of the Wyoming Range, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming. Photo by Dave Showalter. Aerial support provided by Lighthawk.

From the Western Wild blog by Dave Showalter:

Good news! The 44,720 acre parcel in the Wyoming Range known as “The 44? is protected from the planned natural gas development! I first visited the Wyoming range in August and have written about it here, and contributed to an HCN article.

US Forest Service Bridger-Teton Supervisor Jaque Buchanan said “After considering all the alternatives, and the environmental impacts associated with each, I have determined this is the best course of action. No single factor led me to this decision. Rather, it was the combination of the sensitivity and values of the area, the magnitude of other activities currently underway or planned with potentially cumulative impacts, and the concerns of citizens, organizations and other agencies.”

Click here or on the image above to read more and see all of the stunning photography at the Western Wild blog.

Photo by Lloyd Dorsey

FROM THE JACKSON HOLE NEWS & GUIDE:

THE FOREST WILL NOT ALLOW DEVELOPMENT ON 44,720 ACRES of contested oil and gas leases in the Wyoming Range, officials announced Tuesday.

Bridger-Teton National Forest supervisor Jacque Buchanan announced her decision with a statement, which sportsmen and conservation groups hailed as a victory in the quest to protect Wyoming’s most important wild places from energy development.

The leases were proposed 35 miles southeast of Jackson in Sublette County.

“After considering all the alternatives, and the environmental impacts associated with each, I have determined this is the best course of action,” Buchanan said. “No single factor led me to this decision. Rather, it was the combination of the sensitivity and values of the area, the magnitude of other activities currently underway or planned with potentially cumulative impacts, and the concerns of citizens, organizations and other agencies.”

The Bridger-Teton originally set aside the land for leasing in 1990, and the BLM offered lease sales on the 44,720 acres in 2005 and 2006. Conservation groups and sportsmen appealed that decision to the Interior Board of Land Appeals, claiming the BLM justified the sale using outdated information.

As a result, the BLM in 2009 rejected 23 leases on roughly half of the affected area.

Coalition applaudes decision

The decision to preserve the land is “fantastic” said Lisa McGee of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, and was responsive to the “diverse coalition of Wyoming people who worked together to pass the Wyoming Range Legacy Act.

“People value the Bridger-Teton for its wildlife, scenery and backcountry recreational opportunities,” she said. “Oil and gas leasing threatens those uses and values. As we’ve learned with the Hoback [PXP] project, once a place is leased, development is not easily curtailed. The decision not to lease in this case is absolutely the right one. The Forest Service should be applauded.”

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

By Richard Garrett, Jr.

THE WYOMING LEGISLATURE IS WELL INTO ITS THIRD WEEK and although some trends are clear others have yet to come into focus.

While this is a legislature that certainly has social activists, it is also one that has bipartisan interest in exploring environmental issues, including those related to wind energy, resource extraction, and even greenhouse gases.

While there are many bills that are important, some that are of particular interest to the Wyoming Outdoor Council and its members include the following.

The Bills Related to Wind Energy:

• Senate File 22, dealing with wind energy property rights: Click here to read it.
• House Bill 48, dealing with the placement of wind energy facilities: Click here to read it.
• House Bill 191, dealing with wind power taxation: Click here to read it.
• Senate File 58, dealing with landowner rights in wind energy development: Click here to read it.

Each of these bills is designed to deal with some of the thorniest issues related to wind energy development in Wyoming including siting, property rights, and taxation.

All of these bills are important, but perhaps the one of greatest interest to Outdoor Council members is the one that has yet to be introduced: This is a bill that would—if an excise tax on wind-energy production is extended—require that a portion of the tax be directed to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.

The practicality of this idea seems apparent: wind-energy development can do substantial harm to wildlife so it is fitting that resources from that development be directed to offset its impacts.

We will continue to remind lawmakers and industry officials that they have an obligation to conserve and protect Wyoming’s wildlife as they develop and improve the regulatory framework for wind energy development in this state.

Natural Resources:

• Senate File 116, dealing with oil and gas enhanced recovery via microbial conversion: Click here to read it.

This is a bill that would allow two state agencies—the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission and/or the Department of Environmental Quality—to undertake rule-making for a new technology that would stimulate methane production in otherwise depleted coal-bed methane formations.

The process is called microbial stimulation and involves injecting nutrients and microbes into underground coal structures with the expectation that the natural processes that have created methane in coal seams over hundreds of thousands of years can be revived.

It is believed that the way producers have been extracting coal-bed methane—which has included pumping water from the aquifer up to the surface in order to draw down the water level to release the methane—has had the result of reducing or perhaps even ending the natural processes that created the methane in the first place.

A visual explanation of this microbial stimulation process can be found here.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council is particularly concerned with how this process might impact groundwater resources for future generations, and therefore we will work to influence this bill’s progress in the Legislature and, if it passes, we’ll work to influence the rule-making process at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission and DEQ.

Greenhouse Gases:

• Senate Joint Resolution 6, requesting Congress to limit air quality regulation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency: Click here to read it.

This is a resolution that is intended to influence Washington, D.C. decision makers by requesting that they force the Environmental Protection Agency into additional delays on plans to regulate greenhouse gases.

The resolution cleared its first hurdle in the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development committee where it was approved by a vote of 4 to 1.

While we expect similar results on the floor of the Senate and in the House, too, we were encouraged when the Senate committee supported our initiative to sponsor an interim study that would evaluate the state’s opportunity to take the initiative and regulate and permit greenhouse gases, instead of leaving it up to the federal government.

This proposal is consistent with an idea first advanced by Rocky Mountain Power during last year’s interim meeting of the joint Minerals committee.

While we acknowledge that the state is less qualified than the EPA to establish rules for greenhouse gas emissions, we also believe that the state is well advised to seize an initiative and retain state primacy in this regulatory arena.

These and other issues are on deck in Cheyenne.

We are always on hand, active, and involved at the Legislature on behalf of the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 1400-plus members. If you are in Cheyenne and would like to meet, or you would like to help influence legislation, please be in touch.

Contact: Richard Garrett, Jr., energy and legislative advocate, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-332-7031 x18; 307-438-9516; richard@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

By Richard Garrett, Jr.

 

 

THE FIRST WEEK OF THE WYOMING STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION is always exciting, and this year perhaps even more so.

There are 23 new representatives and senators, many new state staff members, and a few new practitioners of my celebrated profession—lobbyists.

And, of course, there is a new chief executive: Wyoming’s 32nd governor, Matt Mead.

Because the 2010 election produced a new Republican super-majority, committee assignments have been shuffled; many have new chairpersons, and memberships have changed.

The ratio of Republicans to Democrats on committees has shifted dramatically. Because there are so few Democrats in the Legislature this year, some committees don’t have bipartisan representation.

On the Senate side, the committee ratio of Republicans to Democrats is generally 4-1 or 5-0, depending on the committee. On the House side that ratio is generally 6-3 or 7-2.

Many observers see this as an indication that partisan interests will motivate much of the legislative agenda—and perhaps, to some extent, that is true.

On the other hand, in my observation, everyone seems to have pledged to work together for the continued success of the state with an understanding that many issues, and perhaps most particularly conservation issues, are not easily resolved through partisanship but instead through discussion, understanding, and collaboration.

As I work on behalf of the members of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, I will be focusing on issues that are of particular interest to them:

• Split-estate bonding requirements will be considered early in the session and that process might be contentious.
• We will also be following the wind excise tax debate and advocating that a portion of the state’s share of that tax be directed to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.
• A proposal will be considered again to task the State Division of Economic Analysis with determining the “optimum use” for all land in the state (private, state, and federal). A similar bill passed last year but was vetoed, wisely, by then Gov. Dave Freudenthal. That bill featured a modeling process that would have created a bias toward finding so-called optimum uses for Wyoming lands that would almost always have involved resource development and extraction. In other words, the determined “optimum use” would likely never have been open space, important wildlife habitat, historical preservation, ecotourism, iconic landscapes, or conservation.
• We might also see the reemergence of the ill-conceived landfill “risk management” bill, which was introduced, but failed, in 2009, and which would have reduced environmental safeguards for hazardous waste siting.
• We will also be alert to funding challenges to the Department of Environmental Quality (perhaps similar to what we saw last year), with an understanding that this agency’s workload and responsibilities are always increasing—budget cuts in this agency would be a signal that the state’s decision makers are not committed to resource development done right.
• There is also a possibility that with so many new faces in the Legislature, the previous administration’s core sage-grouse habitat concept and boundaries will be challenged.
• All of this—coupled with advocacy for continuing tax credits for small-scale renewables and advancing the notion of state permitting of greenhouse gases—will mean the Wyoming Outdoor Council must remain on the ground and fully engaged in the process.

There is a lot at stake. But we believe that by communicating effectively with legislators and Gov. Matt Mead we can help produce outcomes that benefit Wyoming now and, to paraphrase the new governor in his inaugural address, ensure that we leave pastures (i.e., open spaces, clean air and water, and abundant wildlife) for our grandchildren to enjoy.

Contact: Richard Garrett, Jr., energy and legislative advocate, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-332-7031 x18; 307-438-9516; richard@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

By Lisa McGee

WE WILL ALL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO ask questions and learn about a proposed drilling project in the Wyoming Range at three meetings next week hosted by the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Jackson, Bondurant, and Pinedale.

The meetings will be a chance to discuss Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production company’s proposal to develop an oil and gas field in the Hoback area of the Wyoming Range.

The company wants to drill 136 gas wells from 17 pads a few miles south of Bondurant, in a locally treasured hunting area.

Click here or on the image to the right for a printable document that has more information, including the meeting schedule.

The proposed project would be within the 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range protected by the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which was signed into law in 2009. The drilling could still proceed, however, because the company purchased the oil and gas leases prior to the law’s passage (more on this below).

A grassroots group of hunters, anglers, business owners, and outdoor enthusiasts, Citizens for the Wyoming Range, has called the drilling proposal “heartbreaking,” and would like to see the company negotiate a lease buyout.

THE UPCOMING MEETINGS

Please consider attending one or more of the meetings listed below. Just by showing up you’ll let the Forest Service know that you care about the Wyoming Range. The bigger the turnout, the stronger the statement.

For more information, please visit the Citizens for the Wyoming Range website, which is full of great data, maps, and resources, including a two-page fact sheet that might be helpful if you’re looking for ideas about the types of questions you might raise and the types of air, water, and wildlife issues you might ask the Forest Service to address as it considers this proposal.

Meeting schedule (all times 7-9 p.m.):

Tuesday, January 18, in Jackson at the Snow King Resort.

Wednesday, January 19, in Bondurant at the Bondurant school auditorium.

Thursday, January 20, in Pinedale at the Sublette County Library.

MORE ON THE WYOMING RANGE LEGACY ACT

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which was signed into law in 2009, prevents future oil and gas leasing on 1.2 million acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It does not, however, protect the forest from proposals to develop the 77,000 acres of oil and gas leases in the range that were issued prior to passage of the legislation.

The current 136-well proposal implicates some of these existing leases, which are owned by Plains Exploration & Production Company, or PXP.

For more information and to join the grassroots effort to protect the Upper Hoback Basin, please visit the Citizens for the Wyoming Range website.

Together we can work for a solution that benefits both residents and PXP.

As I’ve noted in previous blog posts, the Legacy Act envisions and would facilitate this best-case scenario. Companies like PXP can sell or donate existing leases—and because these leases fall within the boundary of the Legacy Act, they would be retired, and never leased again.

This is a solution that respects the financial interests of the company and would protect the backcountry and wildlife character of the forest that so many of us value.

For more information, feel free to contact me at lisa@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org or visit the Citizens for the Wyoming Range website: www.wyomingrange.org.

By Sophie Osborn

The Wyoming Outdoor Council has amalgamated and highlighted a number of best management practices that can help reduce the impact of wind energy development on Wyoming’s wildlife.

We’ve published these recommendations in a new brochure called “Wind Energy: Doing it Right in Wyoming.”

You can click on the image to the right to view an electronic version of the brochure.


WHY WE NEED BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

At first glance, harnessing the wind seems like one of the most elegant ways that we might reduce air pollution while still generating much-needed electricity to meet our nation’s needs.

Wind energy—particularly if it is coupled with energy conservation and the phaseout of traditional coal-fired power plants—could help reduce the harmful emissions that contribute to pollution and global climate change.

But industrial-scale wind development, like every type of industrial-scale development, also has associated costs. Extensive research has shown, for example, that wind farms can kill birds and bats, destroy and fragment habitat, and disturb and displace wildlife.

Fortunately though, recent research also has identified ways to reduce some of these impacts through measures such as carefully siting wind farms to avoid wildlife migration corridors and other areas that are heavily used by wildlife.

The Outdoor Council has compiled a list of such measures that can help to reduce the impact of wind energy development in this new brochure.

We developed these best management practices after a comprehensive analysis of the literature on wind energy, an examination of wind energy studies, and a review of existing wind energy guidance policies from local, state, and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations throughout the United States.


HOW REGULAR CITIZENS CAN USE THIS BROCHURE

In addition to outlining practices that developers should employ to help ensure that wind plants are designed and sited responsibly, the Council’s brochure also takes the important step of highlighting lands where industrial-scale wind development is not appropriate.

It is our hope that wind energy developers will follow these guidelines as they work to harness Wyoming’s rich wind resource. We also hope this brochure will provide our members and the public with some accessible information about what constitutes responsible wind energy development.

We encourage our members and others to ask that developers adhere to these prescriptions whenever new projects are proposed and built.

The greater awareness we have of the potential costs of wind development and associated mitigation measures, the more likely we are to be able to develop this important source of renewable energy without causing unacceptable harm to our wildlife and the critical habitats upon which these animals depend.

Contact: Sophie Osborn, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-742-6138; sophie@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

Sophie Osborn is a wildlife biologist and the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s wildlife program director. She is the author of the award-winning book Condors in Canyon Country.

Image above: Wyoming Outdoor Council board and staff tour Rocky Mountain Power’s Glenrock wind plant near Casper in September 2010.