CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environment reporter | Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:00 am
LANDER - The status of 44,700 acres of Wyoming Range land originally leased for energy development in 2005 and 2006 has been in question for more than a year, but that could soon change.
For the first time in many months, there was an indication Monday that there will be movement in the coming weeks toward some kind of a resolution on the oil and gas leases in question.
As part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest's 1990 forest plan, the Bureau of Land Management sold leases for possible oil and gas development on the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range from December 2005 to April 2006. The Forest Service was originally going to lease 175,000 acres for development, but scaled that number back to 44,700 after protests from locals, sportsman, conservationists and politicians. They argue that development of the leases would inexorably damage important wildlife habitat and destroy pristine forest land.
Resulting from court appeals by the Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Wilderness Society, the leasing process was halted, in stages, in the summer and fall of 2006. The appeals alleged that the leases violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.
The Interior Board of Land Appeals issued a "stay" on all of the leases already handed out by the BLM, totaling about 21,000 acres, saying that the Forest Service's environmental analysis of the leases was out of date. The Bridger-Teton National Forest announced Monday that it is undertaking a new environmental analysis aimed at addressing the Interior board's concerns.
The BLM had sold the remaining 23,700 acres of leases before the board's decision, but it stopped issuing leases after the decision was handed down. Money did change hands on all of the leases, but only about 21,000 acres of the total were actually issued before the board's decision.
Mary Cernicek, a spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton, said all of the leases sold by the BLM were on lands identified in the 1990 forest plan - the last plan drafted for the area. The Forest Service is working on revising the 18-year-old plan, and is seeking public comment on areas of the forest that should be available to oil and gas leasing.
The new forest plan could theoretically change everything regarding the status of the contested 44,700 acres, especially if the new environmental analysis indicates that drilling would be unacceptably harmful to the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range. But Cernicek said she was unable to speculate on that type of possible outcome.
"The good news is, we're going to issue a notice of intent (to do the updated analysis) and we're moving forward with this," Cernicek said.
Tom Reed of Trout Unlimited, and a representative with Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, said it's impossible to predict what the outcome of the new analysis might be. But they said the groups anticipate that the leases will not be upheld as valid once the potential impact on area wildlife is understood.
"We're hopeful that the (environmental study) reveals that these are extremely critical lands for mule deer and Colorado River cutthroats," Reed said. "The reason we're able to keep the Colorado cutthroat off of the endangered species list is because we've got places like Horse Creek (a waterway on oil- and gas-leased land where the fish spawn)."
But to some, the idea that wildlife would be in danger is a non-issue, because industry has to abide by already strict environmental standards, and it is in the energy producers' best interest to protect wildlife and habitats.
"The oil and gas industry has been doing work over there for 40 or 50 years now, and they've done a great job of protecting the environment, and they'll continue to do that," said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. "They know that it's important to protect the habitat and wildlife, and they'll continue to do that."
Hinchey said the development would by done in pockets, not across the entirety of the leased lands, as some people imagine.
"There are areas that might need to be protected, but to take out a broad brush and say the entire thing can't be developed is absolutely misguided," he said.
Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com.