The U.S. Forest Service has at long last released a draft analysis for its final decision about the last remaining—and most controversial—oil and gas leases on the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range.
Please click here to voice your support for the agency’s preferred alternative: No Leasing.
It has never been more important to show broad public support for a “no leasing” decision. Please speak up today!
In order for comments to be most useful and to ensure they are considered prior to the final decision, please submit them by May 23, 2016.
- Click here to read the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s media release.
- Click here to see the draft analysis in its entirety.
Background
(Click image for a printable PDF)
These contested oil and gas leases are what brought everyone together to protect the Wyoming Range in the first place. Back in 2006, against the wishes of citizens, local businesses, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and anglers—the Forest Service agreed to open up roughly 40,000 acres along the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range to oil and gas leasing.
Most everybody felt it was a shortsighted decision. There are many places where oil and gas development makes sense. The Wyoming Range is not one of them.
After 10 years, the U.S. Forest Service is finally ready to make a critical decision about oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range. And they need to hear from us—all of us who love this magnificent place and want to see it protected for generations to come.
We talk about balance, but what does that mean? We believe that balance means you leave some places alone. Anybody who knows the Wyoming Range will tell you: The trophy class elk and mule deer herds are unparalleled. Half the entire state’s moose population lives right there. And native cutthroat trout habitat? There’s none better.
The Wyoming Range is where we locals go—every chance we get. It’s where we camp, hunt, and fish. It’s where we take our kids. It’s where we make new memories. Why would we risk losing all of this just so a couple of companies can drill twenty-some wells? It doesn’t make sense. Not with thousands of wells already in production or in the works nearby.
Now we need to let the Forest Service hear us, loud and clear. Ten years ago, the Forest Service made a mistake. And for ten years we’ve been waiting for the Forest Service to right this wrong. The citizens of Wyoming have also been working to make sure this kind of mistake won’t happen again. We worked together to pass the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which protects our treasured mountain range from future oil and gas leasing. Then we worked together to raise $8.75 million to buy out and retire adjacent oil and gas leases in the range.
Now we have to work together one more time. We have to tell the Forest Service to do the right thing. These are our lands. This is our legacy. Please tell the Forest Service: A no leasing decision is the only decision that will do.
Click here to voice your support for the agency’s preferred alternative: No Leasing.