Coalbed Methane Comes to Fremont County

by Tom Darin

Every time I've written about the vast open spaces and multitude of resources near Wyoming's Green Mountain, it's been about the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) constant struggle to properly manage the area for responsible livestock grazing, particularly in years of extended drought.

This time, however, I'm reporting on a new threat to the area's landscape and wildlife: coalbed methane (CBM) development.

While very limited CBM production has occurred on private lands in Fremont County for some time, the BLM recently announced an industry proposal to drill five federal exploratory CBM wells south of Green Mountain, in the Pappy Draw project.

Like other federal CBM projects in Wyoming (and indeed the West), this project is off to a dubious start. The unique impacts of CBM production were never considered in the Lander Resource Management Plan (RMP), developed in 1986, long before CBM development began in Wyoming. Federal law requires that proposed land and resource uses conform to the underlying RMPs, plans developed by the BLM to guide future activity on our public lands.

In our comments on the proposed project, we pointed out this legal deficiency and reminded the BLM of its pledge to WOC in 2000 that the Lander RMP would be amended before any federal CBM production occurred.

Because the area proposed for development is very important sage grouse and prairie dog habitat and comprises a huge expanse of wide-open and relatively undisturbed public lands, WOC will closely monitor this and other CBM projects in Fremont County. We certainly haven't forgotten that runaway CBM development in the Powder River Basin started with just a few wells!