What We Do
Energy
The State of Wyoming produces 13.2 percent of all U.S. energy, providing more coal and uranium than any other state. Wyoming is the second leading producer of natural gas among the 50 states; it is the seventh largest producer of oil. The state is quickly becoming a major provider of wind energy. An additional significant consideration in energy production is transmission facilities, pipelines for natural gas, and transmission lines for electricity. Because of the consequences of development for Wyoming’s public lands, wildlife, and air and water quality, the Wyoming Outdoor Council focuses on the environmental effects of energy production.
Public Lands
Wyoming is at a crossroads when it comes to energy production, open space, and quality of life. Wyoming ranks second among states in natural gas reserves and fourth in oil. The state provides almost 40 percent of the nation’s coal and houses the largest reserve of uranium in the U.S. Current proposals for wind power could make Wyoming the third-leading wind energy producer in the nation. Energy development is important, but its growing footprint on Wyoming is enormous. Without balance the benefits of the boom will be overshadowed by the loss of our open space, clean environment, and world-renowned wildlife.
For the Wyoming Outdoor Council, balance means developing our energy resources at the right pace and in the right place. It means respecting the many uses of public lands and recognizing that our air, water, and wildlife need protection where development occurs. Maintaining healthy communities and the wild character of Wyoming depends on finding this balance.
Air Quality
Wyoming has long had some of the cleanest air in the world, but the rapid pace of oil and gas development is threatening that resource. The Upper Green River Valley, for example, has documented ozone pollution levels that threaten human health. With this loss of clean air, Wyoming risks the health of its citizens, its tourism industry, its fisheries, and its mountain lakes and streams, not to mention its 100-mile views. The Wyoming Outdoor Council works to reduce the harm to air quality due to oil and gas projects, and the emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industries. The Council also works to ensure that Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) permits are as protective as possible and that the standards set by the Clean Air Act are enforced. A theme in all of these efforts is to protect human health from ozone and reduce impacts to visibility in our wilderness areas and national parks.
Water Qualilty
Our water quality program was established to safeguard water quality in Wyoming and to advocate for its protection. With this program we work toward strong state and federal regulations governing the quality of our streams, lakes, and groundwater. Pollution known as “produced water,” which is discharged as a byproduct of oil, gas, and coalbed methane drilling, can threaten our surface waters. Without adequate treatment of this pollution, the ecology of lakes and watersheds suffers. Groundwater, too, can be contaminated by mining or reinjection of wastes back into the ground. We also seek to keep plenty of high-quality water flowing in our streams and rivers, to benefit fish and other aquatic life and recreation. As in our public lands program, our focus with water quality is the consequence of energy development. A balanced approach to energy production includes protecting Wyoming’s waterways and underground aquifers.
Wildlife
The Wyoming Outdoor Council’s wildlife program focuses on conserving Wyoming’s rich wildlife heritage. The Council works to protect habitat, disseminate scientifically sound information, and sustain healthy wildlife populations. In particular, we work to ensure that energy development is conducted responsibly to minimize its harm to wildlife.
Wyoming’s abundant and spectacular wildlife faces a growing array of threats. Widespread and intensive energy development, rangeland conversion to subdivisions and other uses, long-term regional drought, invasions by exotic species, and a host of additional factors have eliminated, fragmented, and degraded habitat. In addition, global climate change is altering landscapes in the state and is isolating and threatening some populations of animals. The Council is working on issues related to wildlife impacts from wind energy development, greater sage-grouse and sagebrush ecosystems, forest carnivores, Wyoming’s endemic species, migration corridors, and wildlife diseases, including those exacerbated by elk feedgrounds.
Wyoming Legislature
We continue to be committed to following legislative activity very closely; our lobbyist, Richard Garrett, was in Cheyenne for the entire 2009 session advocating on behalf of our members on several important bills. With your help, and in coordination with other environmental groups, we helped defeat a bill that would have radically altered the DEQ’s rule-making authority for groundwater protection (with profound implications for its other responsibilities) and another that would have politicized the process for designating areas as Very Rare and Uncommon. Just as crucially, we offered key support for a successful bill that creates a framework under which building and facilities managers can now implement strategies that will result in decreased energy consumption and decreased energy costs in state and local government buildings. During the session we developed meaningful and important relationships with key legislators and stakeholders. More important, though, was the way that our members responded when called upon to contact individual legislators about pending bills. We believe this is a critical component to how we relate to state government and are grateful for your participation.