AROUND WYOMING
Highlights of Program Work at WOC
GREATER YELLOWSTONE
Upper Green: Where the skies could become hazy all day. The final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Jonah Infill project was released in January. We expect to see the Record of Decision approving a dramatic expansion (3,100 new wells) of this project in March. Unfortunately the final EIS continues to show there will be significant impacts to visibility in the mountains surrounding the Upper Green River Valley as well as in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. The BLM’s plan for reducing air pollution is mostly hypothetical and consists of the use of “tier 2” technology on drill rigs, which is not widely available yet, and other unproven technologies like electric-powered drill rigs. This project will also have negative impacts to wildlife in the area, particularly pronghorn and sage grouse. Unless we see significant improvements in the Record of Decision, the Wyoming Outdoor Council is strongly considering taking this matter to court. Contact: Bruce Pendery
Seismic project rallies Clark community.. Last summer residents of Clark, Wyo. were successful in asking the BLM to prepare a second, more detailed environmental assessment (EA) in response to their concerns about the impacts from a proposed seismic project along the Beartooth Front. The BLM released its revised EA for public comment in December. Residents of Clark and the Clark Resource Council remain concerned, however, and have asked the BLM to prepare a more thorough EIS. Seismic testing involves heavy buggy-mounted drill rigs, ATVs and drilling rigs carried by helicopters. The Wyoming Outdoor Council has joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and the Wilderness Society in urging the BLM to withdraw two areas from the project: Shoshone National Forest lands north of the Clarks Fork River that provide bighorn sheep and mountain goat habitat, and the Bald Ridge Seasonal Closure Area/Critical Elk Wintering and Parturition Range. Contact: Lisa McGee
Benefits of vegetation treatment questionable. Due to the substantial concern about the effect bark beetles are having on Wyoming’s national forests, forest managers in the Kemmerer ranger district have proposed a series of vegetation treatment projects in an attempt to address the issue. Vegetation treatment can mean a variety of things: prescribed burning, selective thinning of trees or commercial timber harvest, to name a few. Because there is no evidence that short of removing all the trees from the forest, timber harvest has any effect on beetle infestation, the Wyoming Outdoor Council joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition to persuade the Forest Service to look at the best available science before making its management decisions. In addition, the Forest Service’s proposed action involves new road construction in two inventoried roadless areas of the forest. This decision would be contrary to the Forest Service’s own policy to leave roadless areas intact while their management is still undetermined. To voice your opposition to this project, contact Kemmerer District Ranger Russell Bacon and his staff at 307-877-4415 or comments-intermtn-bridger-teton-kemmerer@fs.fed.us. Contact: Lisa McGee
Migration corridor projects working to protect big game travel paths. The Wyoming Council for the Humanities has approved a grant for the Wyoming Outdoor Council to create a DVD of Meredith Taylor’s Ancient Corridors program to be used for educational purposes across the state. We are also working with conservation and ranching partners to protect and restore critical habitat and migration corridors for free-ranging wildlife and develop a proposal for a Path of the Pronghorn project from Grand Teton National Park down into the Upper Green. Contact: Meredith Taylor
Grizzly bear delisting premature. People came to Cody this winter from around Wyoming, the Northern Rockies, and as far away as North and South Dakota to ask U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to refrain from premature delisting of the grizzly bear, and to improve protections for the bear and its habitat. At the hearing, opponents to delisting—including the Outdoor Council—emphasized the importance of habitat protections, reducing human-caused grizzly mortality, and ensuring adequate regulatory mechanisms and funding. Special thanks goes to Wyoming Outdoor Council member Deb Thomas from Powell who testified for us at the Cody hearing. USFWS is reviewing the public comments and will proceed with the delisting process as determined. Contact: Meredith Taylor
GREATER RED DESERT
The Rawlins Resource Management Plan for the eastern Red Desert winds its way through federal bureacracy. The Wyoming Outdoor Council met with BLM State Director Bob Bennett on two recent occasions to discuss BLM’s revisions to the draft Resource Management Plan for the Rawlins Field Office. It now appears that BLM will not release the final EIS until next fall with the final decision coming out in July 2007. In the meantime, the Outdoor Council is monitoring and submitting comments on projects in the area. Recently, BLM has proposed the Cherokee West seismic project near Adobe Town, the Creston/Blue Gap II oil and gas development project (1,250 wells) west of the Baggs Highway, the Seminoe Road Project (1,240 wells) near Seminoe Reservoir, and the Atlantic Rim Project (2,000 wells) south of Rawlins. We have several appeals challenging coalbed methane development in the area pending before the Interior Board of Land Appeals. This winter the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and several other groups received a stay of the Cherokee West seismic project pending further environmental review. We will keep you posted on developments so that you can remain involved in protecting this incredible landscape, or you can visit the BLM Rawlins Field Office website to get information. Contact: Bruce Pendery
STATEWIDE
Small oil and gas projects to evade environmental review. Following a trend in recent years to “streamline” and “expedite” oil and gas development projects, the Forest Service recently issued a proposed rule that would allow up to one mile of new road construction, one mile of road reconstruction, three miles of pipeline installation, and as many as four drill sites in new oil and gas fields on National Forest lands to be categorically excluded from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review. If adopted, this means that the Forest Service would not have to prepare an EIS or an EA before authorizing these activities. Categorical exclusions are appropriate for activities that are proven to have no significant effect on the environment—like mowing the lawn or painting a government building. The level of development contemplated in the rule, however, is wholly inappropriate for this type of administrative rubberstamping. Our national forest lands in Wyoming deserve better. The Wyoming Outdoor Council submitted comments on the proposed rule and will continue to track it in the hope that it will not be adopted. Contact: Lisa McGee
Keeping Wyoming’s water clean. The Water and Waste Advisory Board is still struggling with its revision of Chapter One of the Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations, which sets forth water quality standards for Wyoming lakes and streams. One of the most controversial aspects of this revision will be how the Department of Environmental Quality will protect water for agricultural use, particularly coalbed methane water, which can harm irrigated crops and native grasses. The public will be able to comment and a public hearing will probably occur some time in April 2006. Contact: Steve Jones
|
Privacy Policy