CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environment reporter | Posted: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:00 am
LANDER - As an energy company plans to develop its oil and gas leases in the Upper Hoback River Basin of the Wyoming Range, local sportsmen and wildlife enthusiasts are trying to fight the northern expansion of drilling operations.
Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Co. has proposed an expanded plan that would allow for the drilling of 136 natural gas wells in the northernmost reach of the Wyoming Range, seven miles south of Bondurant.
Under the expanded plan, the nearest pad would be one mile east of the Hoback River, and the middle of the gas field would be six to eight miles from the river, according to Steve Rusch, a vice president of Plains Exploration.
At public meetings today and Tuesday in Jackson and Pinedale, hosted by the U.S. Forest Service, company and U.S. Forest Service representatives will be available to explain the details of the new proposal.
Unlike Plains Exploration's original plan, which only covered three exploratory wells, the new, expanded proposal addresses full-field development over a 12-year span, with the construction of 17 pads total, one pad per square mile, with eight wells directionally drilled per pad.
The wells would be 8,000 to 12,000 feet deep.
Rusch said his company is committed to addressing concerns about the pace and intensity of the proposed drilling and extraction, but the company owns valid oil and gas leases, and it intends to develop the leases.
"(Plains Exploration) has worked and continues to work diligently to design our project in a manner that is sensitive to the Noble Basin," Rusch said. "PXP believes that the plan addresses public concerns about the intensity and pace of development."
But local sportsmen and conservationists aren't pleased with the plan.
J.J. Healy, a cattle rancher in nearby Daniel and member of the conservation group Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range, said he's not against drilling as a rule, but he's concerned about the explosion of drilling projects throughout Sublette County - and the impacts that the unfettered boom is having on area communities.
"Housing costs have skyrocketed," Healy said. "Drug use with crystal meth has gone through the roof. Crime is on the increase."
Along with the social costs of the boom, there is a potential environmental cost that citizens of the state might not want to pay, he said.
"Our group is not against drilling; we're concerned about pace of drilling in Sublette County. We also believe that not all Sublette County should be open to drilling. There shouldn't be a price tag on every piece of ground," Healy said.
Tom Reed, Wyoming field coordinator with Trout Unlimited and a representative for Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, said his group wasn't happy with the original three-well plan, and it will never be happy with 136 wells.
Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range want to preserve some of the land for hunting and fishing, and keep the ecosystem intact.
The best solution, Reed said, would be for the state of Wyoming to negotiate a fair price with Plains Exploration, purchase the leases from the company and retire those leases for good. To that end, Reed is encouraging Wyomingites to show support for the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, introduced by Sen. John Barrasso at the end of October, which would provide for this type of buyout scenario.
"It's a good, Wyoming-based solution, prepared by a Wyoming senator for Wyoming people," Reed said. "Our members are not opposed to drilling. Many of our members earn their money in the oil patch. But for a lot of people here, this is kind of a sacred area. This is where they hunt and fish and teach their children to hunt and fish."
Reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com