Oil & gas lease sale set

CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management announced Friday it will offer more than 292,000 acres in a federal oil and gas lease sale October 7.

Some 246 oil and gas lease parcels were nominated for sale, spanning 18 counties in Wyoming.

"With one-third of the nation's oil and gas production coming from public lands, oil and gas leasing helps increase domestic production of clean-burning natural gas and other mineral resources," BLM Wyoming acting state director Don Simpson said in a prepared statement.

The oral auction is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in Cheyenne. Lists of the parcels will be available at the sale, and can be purchased for $5 at the BLM state office at 5353 Yellowstone Road in Cheyenne, or by writing: BLM, Attn: Copy Work, P.O. Box 1828, Cheyenne, WY 82003.

Copies are also available for purchase from each BLM field office in Wyoming. The complete list of parcels is available on the BLM Wyoming web site at:

http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/energy/Oil-and-Gas/Leasing.html. Also, interactive maps showing the location of the upcoming lease sale parcels in Wyoming can be found at www.geocommunicator.gov.

Dems submit three names for seat

GREEN RIVER - A teacher, a city councilman and a former Sweetwater County Commissioner have been selected as finalists for an open seat on the county commission.

Sweetwater County Democratic Party officials said 14 people applied for the commission seat left open after the death of commissioner Joe Oldfield. Oldfield died Aug. 7 after a brief illness.

Officials with the county's Democratic Central Committee said they will submit the names of Green River city councilman Randy Walker, former county commissioner John Pallesen and educator Howard Logan to the commission.

The commission is expected to pick one candidate next week to fill the remaining two years of Oldfield's term.

Subdivision seeks Riverton annex

RIVERTON - Riverton is planning to annex an unincorporated residential area on its north side.

The move would add about 200 people to Riverton's population.

The Spencer Subdivision was established nearly 60 years ago as a county subdivision, but the city has grown almost entirely around it.

Annexation would allow the subdivision residents to connect to city water and discontinue using their water wells for domestic water use.

Riverton had about 9,300 residents in the 2000 census.

Sweetwater Fair enjoys success

ROCK SPRINGS - Officials are calling this year's Sweetwater County Fair the most successful fair the county has ever put on.

Sweetwater Events Complex director Larry Lloyd said attendance was up an estimated 15 to 20 percent over last year.

Lloyd said concerts and the carnival attracted large crowds.