FIELD Notes

Background photo by Dave Showalter with aerial support provided by LightHawk. Click the image to make it larger.

Email your comments by March 11

By Lisa McGee

THIS IS A REMINDER TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS VIA EMAIL TO THE FOREST SERVICE by Friday, March 11.

• You can send your comments to Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Jacqueline A. Buchanan at this email address: comments-intermtn-bridger-teton-big-piney@fs.fed.us
• Type in the subject line: Eagle Prospect and Noble Basin MDP DEIS

We urge you to include the following points in your comments.

(1) Support alternative E—the buyout option to retire these leases.

The Upper Hoback area is too special to drill. Congress recognized this when it passed the Wyoming Range Legacy Act and withdrew these lands from future oil and gas leasing. The act created a market-based solution for existing leases and this option can be a win-win for the company and the public.

(2) Because a buyout is voluntary and the Forest Service can’t require it, please ask the agency to revise its environmental analysis to include a much stronger conservation alternative that truly protects the resources and other uses.

A full-field industrial gas development in this special place can never be fully mitigated. If the leaseholder will not negotiate a buyout, then the Forest Service must require the most responsible standards to protect air and water quality, wildlife, and backcountry values.

Quick background on the drilling proposal

The U.S. Forest Service is asking the public to comment on a proposed drilling project in the Wyoming Range.

Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production company would like to develop a full oil and gas field in the Wyoming Range in the Greater Yellowstone area.

The company has submitted a plan to drill 136 gas wells from 17 pads a few miles south of Bondurant, in a locally treasured hunting area.

Click here to listen to an interview with recently retired Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton, who says this proposed full-field development is a bad idea. This interview aired on Wyoming Public Radio on March 4.

For more information visit the Citizens for Wyoming Range website.

Lisa McGee, the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s national forests and parks program director, can be reached at lisa@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.