JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 12:00 am
GREEN RIVER - Federal officials have withdrawn most of the parcels in a popular recreation area near the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in southwest Wyoming that were to be offered in a competitive oil and gas sale today in Cheyenne.
The Bureau of Land Management announced Friday it would defer offering 30 parcels in today's lease sale.
Agency spokesman Roger Alexander said the 30 deferred parcels included 13 located in the controversial Little Mountain area south of Rock Springs in Sweetwater County. The 13 Little Mountain parcels encompass about 16,132 acres.
Alexander said the BLM can use lease deferrals as a step in the leasing process to ensure that all parcels offered comply fully with all applicable laws and regulations.
The deferral comes after the BLM received 127 protests on its plan to sell oil and gas leases on Little Mountain, a popular hunting and fishing area that conservationists, hunters and others fear will be forever lost if oil and gas development is allowed in the area.
Wyoming Wildlife Federation executive director Walt Gasson lauded the agency's decision Monday.
The WWF joined faith-based organizations, area sportsmen and blue-collar workers in a loose coalition last year amid fears that full-scale development could take place on the mountain. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department also opposed selling leases in the area.
"We're very pleased … but the credit for this victory goes to the people of Sweetwater County, those individuals, families, businesses and agencies that protested the leases," Gasson said.
"There's plenty of room for gas leasing in southwest Wyoming, but our grandchildren shouldn't have to sacrifice their hunting and fishing for some 'Jonah in the junipers' scheme," he said.
The energy industry has shown interest in the Little Mountain area. A single exploratory gas well was drilled earlier this year by an Oklahoma energy company.
Industry officials contend if the wildcat exploration project shows there are recoverable natural gas reserves in the Little Mountain area, the gas can be extracted with little disturbance. They believe geology and technology will go a long way toward reducing drilling footprints on the mountain.
BLM officials said all of the 30 parcels will be deferred until a determination is made regarding the merits of the protests received on these parcels.
Alexander said the remaining 17 parcels being deferred, encompassing 34,237 acres, are located in Lincoln County. The parcels are being pulled to ensure consistency with stipulations in the BLM's Kemmerer resource management plan.
That leaves 184 parcels encompassing about 197,275 acres that will be offered in today's lease sale.
Controversy
The Little Mountain area is prized by area residents for its world-class elk hunting opportunities, antelope and mule deer hunting, Colorado River cutthroat trout streams and other wildlife species.
The popular recreation area lies about 40 miles south of Rock Springs east of Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
Leases have already been sold in the Little Mountain area. The Oklahoma-based Devon Energy Corp. drilled one pilot natural gas well west of the mountain this summer.
Devon plans to drill another exploratory well at a nearby site next year. The company has also conducted extensive seismic surveys in the area that are expected to be completed in late summer 2009.
Devon officials said during a tour in October of their two project sites that if more expansive drilling activity is undertaken, the underlying rock formations will be conducive to the use of horizontal drilling techniques.
Horizontal drilling allows for multiple wells to be drilled from a single well pad, thereby reducing the number of well pads, roads and equipment needed for development.
But conservationists still oppose energy activity in the area.
"Obviously we are thrilled" with the BLM's decision to pull 13 of the 14 leases that were to be offered on Little Mountain, said Cathy Purves, science and technical adviser for Trout Unlimited in Wyoming.
"The public spoke so loudly and passionately about what these areas meant to them and to fisheries and to wildlife," Purves said. "To have so many protests submitted from such a wide variety … is significant, and we hope these withdrawals become permanent."
Conservationists also submitted 13 protests on several parcels being offered on about 2,960 acres in the Jack Morrow Hills in the scenic Red Desert area of northern Sweetwater County.
For more than a decade, the Jack Morrow Hills north of Rock Springs has been a key battleground in the oil and gas industry boom enveloping southwest Wyoming, primarily in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields in northern Sweetwater and Sublette counties.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.
* Last we knew: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management received more than 100 protests on a competitive oil and gas lease sale scheduled for today, which included some parcels on Little Mountain in southwest Wyoming.
* The latest: The BLM announced it will defer offering 30 parcels in today's oil and gas lease sale, including 13 parcels on Little Mountain.
* What's next: The agency will offer the other 184 parcels encompassing 197,000 acres at today's sale.]]->