GREEN RIVER - Oil and gas development in the Bridger-Teton National Forest's 400,000-acre Wyoming Range has been a hot-button issue in the state in recent years, pitting recreationists and conservationists against oil and gas interests.

Conservationists have filed protests and appeals against several oil and gas leases in the scenic mountain range.

About 95 wells have been drilled on forest lands since 1940s, according to agency data. About 14 wells are currently operating on forest lands, primarily in the Riley Ridge and True Fields west of Big Piney. There are about 151,000 acres of forest land that are leased and overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

Now, Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Co. is seeking federal permission to drill three exploratory oil and gas wells on leases located about seven miles southeast of Bondurant, according to Bridger-Teton officials.

Under the Forest Service's proposed action outlined in a recently released draft environmental impact statement, the company would construct a single well pad on 4.5 acres, from which one vertical and two directional wells would be drilled.

The wells would evaluate production potential within the company's Eagle Prospect, which is located in the Noble area south of Muddy Creek. The draft said the wells would be drilled to depths around 12,500 feet and are expected to tap into underground formations containing sweet gas, not oil or sour gas.

The South Rim Unit was authorized in October 2005 and allows disparate leaseholders to operate as one unit for energy development on the 19,500 acres. Hoback Ranches subdivision residents and area sportsmen objected to the leasing decision at the time, however, and requested a federal review.

Proposals to drill for natural gas in the range have generated stiff opposition from some Wyoming residents, including industry and union workers, sportsmen, outfitters, conservationists and elected officials including Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

Most recently, the forest sold leases last summer on about 44,600 acres in the Wyoming Range, which were appealed by conservation groups and are on hold pending final rulings from the Interior Board of Land Appeals.

Officials with the Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range group said the Plains Exploration project would break the "impasse" over drilling in the range and could clear the way for other future drilling projects.

Group co-founder Gary Amerine said in a release that he worried drilling in the range would replace current multiple uses on forest lands with a single use.

"There's no room for hunting and fishing in an oil and gas field … no room for snowmobiling and camping where oil and gas wells flare and compressors thump 24 hours a day," he said.

Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said there's been oil and gas drilling in the Wyoming Range for many years. "I certainly don't think it's the beginning of the end," he said.

Hinchey noted some of the wells currently in production on forest lands within the Wyoming Range send gas to the nearby Shute Creek plant for processing.

"They've done a great job with protecting the environment up there, and they will continue to do that," he said in a phone interview.

"It's just not accurate to say that (this project) will replace multiple use with a single use," Hinchey said. "I don't think it will destroy the hunting or the fishing there. Some of the best hunting we have is in some of those oil fields where the drilling is taking place."

Hinchey also noted drilling companies aren't allowed to flare gas on forest lands. And he said most compressors drilling sites are housed inside buildings and are equipped with mufflers.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.