LANDER - Depending upon which agency you ask, there might be 850, 940 or possibly even more wells producing natural gas in the Pinedale Anticline field.

And the number of producing wells either is, or isn't, in breach of the rules governing the field's development - depending, this time, on your interpretation of some fuzzy federal language.

At issue is whether the Bureau of Land Management's 2000 "record of decision" for gas-field development in the Pinedale Anticline limits the number of wells that can be drilled, or simply limits the number of well pads that can be constructed.

BLM officials say the document only restricts well pads, and the intention of the rule was not to limit the number of allowable wells, but to curb the amount of surface disturbance caused by the gas drilling.

Opponents say the original plan plainly limits the number of producing wells to 700, and the BLM has willfully disregarded this limitation by authorizing too many wells before completing a required, updated environmental analysis.

If opponents are correct, all of the new wells that have been approved by the BLM after the threshold of 700 was reached are in excess of the record of decision, and, ostensibly, illegal.

The issue arises in the midst of the BLM's consideration of a plan to allow up to 4,400 more gas wells to be drilled in the Anticline, one of the hottest natural gas plays in the West. Some Sublette County residents say the new BLM plan doesn't adequately address potential health consequences of more drilling, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has voiced concerns about elevated ozone levels, groundwater contamination and decreased visibility.

In arguing that the BLM already has allowed too much drilling, local air quality advocates and conservation groups point to stipulations in the 2000 decision document that seem to regulate the number of wells that can be permitted in the Pinedale Anticline field.

Under the section entitled "Approved Project Components" in the record of decision, the following items are listed:

* "900 Initial well pad locations on all lands and minerals within the (Pinedale Anticline Project Area)."

* "700 Producing wells and/or well pads on all lands and minerals within the PAPA."

* "700 Production facilities at individual well locations."

In the same section, under the heading "Well Pads," the following directive can be found:

* "This ROD authorizes the construction and drilling of up to 900 wells, and the completion, testing, and production of up to 700 producing natural gas well pads within the PAPA."

Linda Baker, coordinator of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, said the language in the decision document clearly limits the number of wells.

"Basically, there is no accountability here," Baker said. "The number of wells was specifically mentioned in the BLM's 2000 record of decision. It said 700 producing natural gas wells. That was the black and white in the ROD. That was the number of wells analyzed in the (air quality analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act)."

BLM Environmental Coordinator Ken Peacock confirmed that the original analysis of the potential impacts on air quality for field development assumed a "one-to-one ratio of wells to pads."

That is, the study's anticipated levels of air pollution were based on an assumption that there would be no more than 700 producing natural gas wells.

"That was the current technology at the time," Peacock said. "When we talk about the air quality analysis, we are, in fact, looking at wells."

The record of decision, however, does not specifically limit the number of wells, he said, but well pads. In terms of air quality, the document requires that emissions of nitrogen oxides be limited. Once those emissions reach the tonnage limits specified in the decision, the BLM is required to initiate a new environmental analysis, which the agency did initiate in 2006, Peacock said.

"We've done what we think the 2000 record of decision stipulates," he said. "And while we do that, we're continuing to process (applications for permits to drill new wells)."

According to the latest BLM figures, 342 well pads have been constructed so far on the Pinedale Anticline.

Ambiguous language?

The BLM's record of decision for the Pinedale Anticline, completed in 2000, is the governing document for development of the Pinedale gas field.

The language used in the federal document is arguably ambiguous, and is at times contradictory. And BLM officials say this "unfortunate" lack of clarity has caused some people to misinterpret the intent of the decision.

But opponents, including Baker and Bruce Pendery, attorney with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, say the BLM is not being honest with the public, and is taking a revisionist approach to the document in order to justify what they describe as a recent unchecked feeding frenzy that has taken place in the Pinedale Anticline.

"A lot of the environmental analysis was based on there being no more than 700 wells," Pendery said. "That was the whole underlying supposition of the environmental analysis: that there would be no more than 700 wells. The thing that makes it a little murky is they used 'wells' and 'well pads' in the same sentence, but then when you look at the rest of the EIS, it's very clear that the impact analysis refers to no more than 700 wells, and that's especially true for air quality issues."

Throughout the decision document, the ideas of wells and well pads are often conflated, and the terms are, at times, used interchangeably. Yet directional drilling - a technique in which more than one well is drilled per pad - is mentioned in the document, and operators are required to use the technique wherever possible to "minimize undue surface disturbance and impacts on wildlife, sensitive viewsheds and other resource values."

BLM officials assert that if a person reads the document all the way through, it is apparent that the number limits have to do exclusively with well pads because the primary goal, at the time, was to limit surface and habitat disturbances.

A spokeswoman with one of the energy companies drilling in the field offered a similar take on the 2000 federal rule.

"Shell's understanding is that the BLM's intent was to limit surface occupancy in order to reduce environmental impacts," said Deena McMullen of Shell Exploration and Production Co. "Surface occupancy is reliant on the well pad, and therefore we believe the BLM intended to limit the number of pads at 700, but did not define a limitation on wells that could exist on those pads."

This reading is reinforced, McMullen said, by language in the document that encourages operators to place more than one well on a given pad if possible.

One law trumps the others?

Officials with the BLM acknowledge that air pollution levels from existing gas field development have exceeded the expectations of the original environmental analysis, and the limitations set forth in the original record of decision. Because of this, the BLM initiated an updated environmental study for the Pinedale Anticline in 2006, said Teresa Howes, spokeswoman for the Wyoming BLM.

The new analysis is still in the drafting stages.

"The trigger for the new study is not the number of wells, it's the emissions," Howes said.

A new decision document will be created based on this updated study, and it will address the unanticipated impacts of development so far, Howes said. And the BLM will develop new rules to reduce emissions and to protect the environment.

In the meantime, the federal agency will continue to approve applications to drill new wells, because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the BLM to maintain an "accelerated" pace of application reviews, Howes said.

Other BLM officials in both the Pinedale and Cheyenne offices echoed that sentiment last week, saying that the 2005 federal law - which seeks to increase domestic production of fuel in order to meet rising demand and improve national security - requires the BLM to continue processing and approving permits.

"It's the law of the land," said Bill Lanning, field manager at the BLM's Pinedale office.

Pendery and Baker, however, take issue with that interpretation of the law.

"What Teresa Howes said was incorrect," Pendery said. "The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the BLM to process applications to drill in 45 days, but the agency also must comply with other laws, too. The BLM has embraced the Energy Policy Act with esteem, enthusiasm and great warmth, but what they are saying is not at all reflected in the act."

It does no good, Pendery argues, for the BLM to follow the Energy Policy Act if the agency violates other laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, or the dictates of the original record of decision in the process.

"It is an absolute affront to the people of this country to have an agency elevating one law above all others," he said. "What it allows them to do is avoid accountability and avoid responsibility. Fundamentally, they're saying we get to drill as many wells as we want, regardless of impacts."

The Pinedale-based Upper Green River Valley Coalition, agrees, Baker said.

"The BLM seems to be intentionally sidestepping the issue of the environmental consequences of any wells that are in excess of 700, and the fact that they have not analyzed or disclosed the impacts from those wells," Baker said. "The 2000 ROD is still the guiding document. NEPA specifically says that analysis must be conducted before, not after an action is taken. Are they saying they're going to retroactively do an analysis?"

From Howes' perspective, however, the premise of Baker's point is mistaken.

The governing document for the Pinedale Anticline allows for up to 700 producing well pads, Howes said, and because there are currently 342 pads total, the current action is in compliance with the original guidelines.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.