WOC's Annual Meeting

by Nancy Debevoise

WOC held its annual meeting on June 23 at the Snow King Resort in Jackson. The gathering focused on the Bush Administration's national energy policy and its serious implications for Wyoming, as well as promising developments in energy conservation, efficiency and alternatives.

The meeting, "Big Oil: Targeting the American West," focused on what WOC believes is the greatest threat facing our state's natural wealth and our quality of life. By the end of this decade, southwest Wyoming's wildlands will be marred by 10,000 to 15,000 oil and gas wells, and the Powder River Basin will be inundated by more than 50,000 coalbed methane wells. With the Bush Administration's determination to dramatically expand energy development throughout the West, and with Wyoming's "Open for Business" stance, the impacts on our state's wild places may well be irreversible.

Keynote speakers and panelists included Karl Rábago, Managing Director of Natural Capitalism Research & Consulting at the Rocky Mountain Institute; Bart Koehler, former WOC Executive Director and currently Director of The Wilderness Society's Wilderness Support Center; and Gwen Lachelt, Executive Director of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

Erik Molvar of Biodiversity Associates in Laramie, author of the recently published Wild Wyoming guidebook (see article on page 7), kicked off the meeting with a slide show of Wyoming's treasured - and endangered - wild places.

Next, WOC's Public Lands & Resources Program Director Tom Darin, Staff Ecologist Jerry Freilich and Outreach Coordinator Mac Blewer described energy- development threats to our state's landscapes, wildlife, water quality and biodiversity.

Then Karl Rábago spoke about a variety of energy-conservation techniques, energy-efficiency measures and renewable-energy sources that could greatly reduce - and possibly eliminate - the need for increased fossil-fuel development and new power plants in the U.S.

Before and after the meeting, participants boarded LightHawk planes for over-flights of developed and proposed oil and gas fields and accompanied guides on nature field trips, fly fishing outings and a rafting trip down the Snake River.

Dee Parker graciously hosted an evening reception at her home in Wilson, with renowned folk/blues musician Mike Dowling and Bart Koehler providing lively entertainment.