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WOC intern Jacob Pries; creating opportunities

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Jacob Pries gravitated toward becoming a policy wonk early in his academic career, excited to one day help conserve the great outdoors he enjoyed so much while growing up in the Midwest. Halfway through his political science undergrad work at the College of Wooster, he also acquired an intense interest in geology, prompting him to take on a double minor in environmental studies and geology.

“If you’d told me I’d fall in love with rocks, I would have told you that you were crazy,” said Jacob who grew up hunting and fishing. But that passion helped build a solid foundation for a career that ties the geologic past to the present — and that connects those who inform critical environmental policy with the natural world.

“I want to give back to something that’s given so much to me.”

Jacob, 24, is working as an intern at the Wyoming Outdoor Council this summer, digging deep into National Environmental Policy Act matters related to water quality issues in Wyoming, among other things. So far, he’s worked long-distance from his hometown of Wadsworth, Ohio, but he plans on making his way to Wyoming soon. He’s especially excited to visit Yellowstone. “I understand it’s absolutely beautiful, so I’d love to get to see the crown jewel of Wyoming and the country.”

I had the opportunity to visit with Jacob recently. Here’s what we discussed about conservation and his hopes to bring people together for smart conservation policy:

What do you hope to give back in terms of connecting people and the outdoors?

People develop a connection to the land. One thing I love about hunting and fishing so much is that connection you feel. It means more to you than you can express in words. The greatest thing about being outdoors is when you’re out there you feel like part of something bigger than yourself, and that’s really rewarding. People are passionate about natural resources and public lands because of that connection — we’re part of an entire scheme of things, that’s what drives people to make sure these places they are connected to are conserved. It’s so important to get people outside and experience, that’s how you get people to care.

What are you working on at WOC this summer?

NEPA and Clean Water Act issues [related to Aethon Energy’s plan to dump oilfield wastewater into Boysen Reservoir], sage-grouse restoration, and mule deer migration corridor work. They are big issues in Wyoming and the West, so it’s really exciting. I learned that the Moneta Divide project is extremely complicated — it’s big in size and it’s big in its implications. That’s one thing I try to realize is the implications of what I’m working on, and I try to [understand] the implications for the people affected. It keeps you motivated and moving in the direction you want to move.

What do you see yourself doing in five years?

Foremost, I’m blessed to be doing what I am now, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. I have a fiancé, so I look forward to getting married and starting a family — those are the big things. As for career aspirations, I’m grateful and thankful for whatever comes my way. I’m interested in policy work and giving back to what’s given me so much — make sure my children and their children get to experience what I’ve experienced in the outdoors. 

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Help tell the DEQ: No need to sacrifice clean water for energy development

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Wyoming relies on clean water. From our world-class fishing and recreation, to irrigation and municipal use, clean water is a cornerstone of Wyoming’s economy and our way of life.

That’s why it was no surprise that hundreds of citizens packed two recent meetings to learn more about the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s proposed “surface discharge permit” for wastewater from the Moneta Divide oil and gas project.

Unfortunately, the dense, highly technical proposal — which would allow more than 8 million gallons per day of oilfield wastewater to be discharged into Alkali and Badwater creeks — does not adequately address environmental and human costs, and it seriously threatens the health of those creeks, Boysen Reservoir, and the communities downstream.

The DEQ’s proposal also sets up a false dichotomy: that Wyomingites must accept lesser water quality in exchange for the jobs and revenue that the Moneta oil and natural gas expansion plan promises.

The people of Wyoming know better.

There are solutions that allow for continued energy development in this area that don’t also risk the health of communities, fisheries, or the places we love. The DEQ needs to consider them.


What’s at stake: Wyoming’s clean water economy and heritage
 

Thousands of people rely on Boysen Reservoir and Boysen State Park for fishing, camping and recreation, as well as the revenue those activities provide. Recognizing that, the DEQ rules designate Boysen Reservoir a “high quality water” requiring “the highest statutory and regulatory requirements for all new and existing point source discharges . . . ”   

Boysen flows into the Wind River, a vital resource for many communities. It cuts through the beautiful Wind River Canyon and becomes the Bighorn River at Wedding of the Waters just south of Thermopolis. The Blue Ribbon trout fisheries are integral to outfitters and the local tourism industry. The Bighorn provides municipal water for Thermopolis, and is a lifeline for irrigated agriculture throughout the Bighorn Basin.

THE PROPOSAL

The DEQ’s wastewater surface discharge proposal is the linchpin to a major drilling expansion in the historic Moneta Divide oil and gas field east of Shoshoni. Texas-based Aethon Energy, the main operator in the field, wants to add up to 4,100 new wells over the next 15 years. The project would support hundreds of jobs and provide an economic boon to several communities in the area that desperately need it. But the scale of the expansion, and the geology of the Moneta Divide field, present a major challenge.

The targeted oil and gas formations are laden with dirty water that would be brought to the surface with the oil and gas, requiring a massive undertaking to properly manage large volumes of “produced” water in a way that meets legal standards to protect existing clean water resources and uses.

The Moneta Divide oil and gas field currently has a reverse-osmosis water cleanup plant — the Neptune Water Treatment Facility. But the facility can handle only a small portion of the produced water that Aethon must manage. The field is also equipped with several wastewater injection wells, and Aethon’s proposal calls for several more injection wells to be constructed, as well as surface pits and other water handling methods. Even so, the massive volume of produced water still exceeds the capacity of these systems.

The DEQ proposes to allow Aethon to dump up to 8.27 million gallons per day of untreated and partially treated produced water into the riparian Alkali and Badwater creeks. The highly saline wastewater, which contains a long list of pollutants, would flow 40 miles west to Boysen Reservoir to settle and dilute in a “mixing zone” in Boysen’s Badwater Bay, according to the proposed DEQ permit.

In its proposal, the DEQ’s Water Quality Division relied on modeling and analysis from a consultant hired by Aethon Energy to determine that the discharge would not result in adverse impacts to human health or aquatic life in Boysen Reservoir, and would result in only minor, acceptable decreases in water quality in the Wind and Bighorn rivers downstream of Boysen.

Our analysis suggests otherwise. For the past two months, we’ve worked with fisheries biologists, hydrologists, and other scientific experts to take a closer look at the DEQ’s proposed discharge permit and the modeling it’s based on. We’ve found a number of flaws resulting in significant threats to the state’s surface waters, and will point these out to the DEQ in our written comments.

what we’ve discovered so far: 

  • Impacts to aquatic life in Alkali Creek and in Badwater Creek from the daily discharge of millions of gallons of contaminated oil field wastewater will likely violate water quality standards for those streams.
  • Polluted wastewater entering Badwater Bay, a proposed mixing zone, could harm an important nursery area for sauger, a species of fish related to the walleye.
  • The Wind River will be degraded, despite a strict anti-degradation standard for Class 1 rivers.
  • Chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing may enter Boysen Reservoir and contaminate drinking water supplies used by the Town of Thermopolis.
  • The water quality baseline used to determine pollution levels in the WInd River should be 1979, the year when the Wind River was designated a Class 1 river — not 2010-2016.

There’s another way 

The previous owner of the Moneta Divide field, Encana, proposed a number of options to avoid problematic surface discharge of wastewater and the environmental damage it would cause. Among its solutions were deep well injection and treating the wastewater to Class 1 standards, then piping and discharging it into Boysen Reservoir. But the DEQ hasn’t considered any alternatives beyond the surface discharge proposed by Aethon, even though such analysis is required by the DEQ’s own rules.

We’re asking the DEQ to analyze other options. If surface discharge is necessary, the produced water should be purified and piped to Boysen Reservoir, not dumped into Alkali and Badwater creeks, where the environmental impacts will be devastating.

If done right, the Moneta Divide Project could be a “win-win” for local economies and downstream communities. The construction of advanced water treatment facilities and pipelines to transport purified water from the Moneta Divide field to Boysen Reservoir would provide high-paying jobs and protect the environment.

If done incorrectly, the discharge of massive quantities of produced water could devastate the Wind River and Bighorn River blue ribbon fisheries, contaminate municipal drinking water supplies, and render irrigation water unsuitable for crop production, leaving a legacy of pollution for future generations to clean up.

A robust energy industry doesn’t mean we must sacrifice our vital clean water resources. Energy development can be done responsibly.

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Please join us in asking the DEQ and Aethon Energy to go back to the drawing board and develop a proposal that protects water quality for present and future generations.

Click here to read a fact sheet about the DEQ’s proposed surface discharge permit and tips about how to provide a comment (public comment is due by July 5).

Click here to read a fact sheet about the BLM’s draft EIS for the Moneta Divide Oil and Gas Project, and for tips about how to provide public comment (public comment is due July 18).

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WOC is Working for Clean Water

Ever splash in a backcountry stream or dip your face in an alpine pool to cool off after a strenuous hike?

Ever wonder who’s in charge of making sure those waters are clean — or how those decisions are made?

Right now, we have an opportunity to weigh in on a comprehensive review of Wyoming’s water quality standards, and to urge the Department of Environmental Quality to adopt the most protective standards available to protect water-based recreation, human health, and aquatic life.

Pushing for a more open review of water quality rules

Every three years, as required by the Clean Water Act, the DEQ reviews the standards that govern the quality of Wyoming’s surface waters. Often, the agency will propose changes that will provide increased protection for streams and lakes. But it sometimes proposes changes that may result in weakening water quality standards, which could significantly threaten human health and fisheries.

In its current review, the DEQ is considering a number of important changes to the existing standards, including a completely new classification system that will assign different levels of protection depending on uses of the water, and revising criteria for temporary exceedances of pollution limits intended to protect public health. It is also considering allowing for increased water temperatures caused by human activity, and changing the definitions of “primary” and “secondary” recreational use.

On October 12th we weighed in on the DEQ’s “Initial Scoping” document, which outlined several important changes to the water quality standards being considered (read our comments here). Although the initial scoping period is closed, we encourage you to contact the DEQ if you have concerns you’d like to share. We’ll also let you know when the formal comment period opens, and how to weigh in then.

“The triennial review process is wonky, and can be difficult for the average person to engage in,” Outdoor Council Senior Conservation Advocate Dan Heilig said. “But it’s a tremendously important opportunity to guide how our state protects water quality for recreation, fisheries and public health. There needs to be more outreach to the general public, and particularly to those in the outdoor recreation community.”

The most important thing for you to stress in your comments is how important clean water is to you.

A sweeping downgrade for Wyoming waters

One of the issues we’re tracking is how the state categorizes waterways for recreational use, which determines allowable levels of E. coli, a bacteria that can make people seriously ill.

You might remember that in 2016 the DEQ reclassified — or downgraded — 87,775 miles of streams to allow for a 500 percent increase in allowable levels of E. coli. These so-called “low flow” stream segments, flowing below six cubic feet per second, were assumed by DEQ to be too small for recreational use — such as swimming, dunking or “child’s play” — where water might be ingested.

The assumption was incorrect, so we fought back. But the DEQ had dug in its heels, and refused to recognize that primary contact recreation takes place on all kinds of surface waters, particularly on public lands where recreational use is high. Wyoming is the only state in the nation to use the Categorical Use Attainability Analysis for Recreation model to conduct such a statewide downgrade, rather than a segment-by-segment process based on actual field-collected data.

The DEQ’s model was far too sweeping: it effectively deemed 80 percent of Wyoming’s waterways — including many small streams where people are known to splash and dunk — unsuitable for primary contact recreation. It also didn’t prioritize robust public outreach to recreational users and others who would be most impacted by the changes.

Additionally, while the choice to use the UAA model to reclassify waterways helped save DEQ time and resources, it was also a model that put the huge burden of determining which streams should not be downgraded onto the public.

WOC provides missing information

This past summer, our legal intern, Rob Kutchin, a student at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, worked with Heilig to review the DEQ’s statewide downgrade. They found numerous streams around the state that, according to the DEQ’s own definition of “primary contact recreation,” should have retained the highest water quality standards. Instead, these streams — many near established recreation sites — had been downgraded.

For example, under the DEQ’s faulty model, just three dispersed campsites in all of Fremont County retained the stronger standard. In fact, there are more than 30 such campsites off Lander’s Loop Road alone, all of which should have received protection as sites for primary contact recreation. Perhaps most troubling, the DEQ lowered water quality protection on streams near the Fremont County Youth Camp, which is visited by hundreds of children each summer.

The Outdoor Council alerted the DEQ to more than 75 recreation sites overlooked by the model. Another group alerted DEQ about an additional 63 Forest Service trailheads the agency missed in its data collection efforts.

“We thought this would be an easy ask,” Heilig said. “Our hope was that the DEQ would quickly correct these types of obvious errors. Instead, it rejected all of this information and said it would not accept data-based corrections to its location modeling.”

In other words, the DEQ used incomplete datasets to erroneously downgrade water quality standards for thousands of stream miles, then said it would only accept site-specific evidence collected in the field — requiring stringent criteria — before considering corrections to the model.

The DEQ’s comprehensive review is especially important as we keep pushing to protect these waterways — because it’s an opportunity for the recreation standards themselves to be revised, upward or downward.

We expect Wyoming DEQ will publish its proposed revisions to the water quality standards sometime within the next few months. Meantime, we’ve asked DEQ to hold public hearings and conduct additional outreach about its triennial review in Lander and Jackson, communities where outdoor recreation is a significant driver of local economies and central to quality of life. We’ll keep you posted. Stay tuned for details on how to comment.

A bad idea for Badwater Creek

Just as we were going to press, we learned about a proposal being advanced by the DEQ to permit higher levels of industrial pollutants in central Wyoming’s Badwater Creek. Aethon Energy says it needs to dispose of an estimated 1 million barrels per day of toxic “produced water” from its proposed drilling expansion in the Moneta Divide natural gas field. The company wants to discharge the waste into Badwater Creek, which flows directly into Boysen Reservoir, the main feature at Boysen State Park. Boysen feeds into the Wind River, a designated Class I “outstanding resource water” in Wind River Canyon, upstream of Thermopolis. Allowing this kind of industrial disposal into Badwater Creek could present dire threats to fisheries and human health throughout a watershed central to rural economies and lifestyles for a major portion of the state.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised concerns with the proposal and ask the DEQ to provide more data about the potential impacts. We will keep a close eye on the matter as it moves forward, so stay tuned.

Contact: Dan Heilig, dan@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org

 

Legal intern Rob Kutchin leads summer clean water brigade

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Growing up in Wisconsin, Rob Kutchin is familiar with how important water — clean water — is for us, our health, and our local ecosystems. Kutchin grew up near the state’s capital, Madison, a city oriented around two large lakes that generate notable pride for its residents. Wisconsin has one of the highest ratios of water to land mass of any state. He said it’s nearly impossible for kids raised there — playing, swimming and fishing in these waters — to not develop an awareness about water’s significance to everyday life.

Kutchin, now a 27 year-old Juris Doctor degree candidate at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, has earned the opportunity to reinforce this same awareness in Wyoming. This June, Kutchin was hired as a legal intern to work alongside Dan Heilig, the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s senior conservation advocate, on a project to restore proper protections for Wyoming’s water.

The idea for this project stems from our work over the past three years, in response to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s reclassification of nearly 80 percent of Wyoming’s waterways in August 2014. The DEQ used a statewide analysis called a Categorical Use Attainability Analysis for Recreation to determine and implement these reclassifications. Based largely on modeling, the DEQ’s analysis — the first of its kind undertaken by any U.S. state — was intended to gather information about all of Wyoming’s streams, their depths, locations, and primary use.

The final reclassification downgraded 82,896 miles of low-flow streams from primary contact recreation to secondary contact recreation. Unlike primary contact recreation, defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as activities where incidental ingestion of water is possible from splashing, wading, head dunking or swimming, secondary contact presumes the flow would be too low to support these activities. With the loss of primary contact status, the state now allows for increased levels of E. coli pollution over time, as much as five times more E. coli than primary contact streams. E. coli is an indicator of harmful pathogens in waterways and presents increased health risks for anyone coming into contact with it.

Despite the DEQ’s assertion that the reclassification includes mostly remote and shallow streams, the agency did revise its initial decision in 2016 following public outcry. Heilig said he knows there are many improperly downgraded streams in the state that people frequent throughout the summer. This summer, Kutchin will work with Heilig to identify some of these streams in and around Fremont County, and will also work alongside dozens of NOLS students to document water flow levels and test recreational capacity — by sometimes splashing around themselves — and documenting that activity. Armed with this evidence, the Outdoor Council hopes to make a strong case to the DEQ for returning misclassified streams to primary contact status. The NOLS students make excellent partners for Kutchin’s work since many of the downgraded streams lie just outside wilderness areas, where many hikers often cross on their way into the backcountry. Their participation and data collection will allow the Outdoor Council to accurately document how these downgraded streams are being used for recreation.

Kutchin has already spent many of his first few days in the Shoshone National Forest, exploring streams near dispersed campsites and trailheads that the DEQ’s predictive map analysis may have missed or misclassified. He said he’s grateful for the opportunity to work in the familiar Wind River Range, where he’s been leading NOLS wilderness education courses as an instructor for nearly seven years. His experience in the backcountry, as a NOLS instructor, a volunteer search and rescue ranger in Alaska with the National Park Service, and a leadership course director in Death Valley, California, only serve to further strengthen his advocacy for clean water sources for safe outdoor recreation.

“When you’re in the backcountry, you organize almost all of your life around water,” Kutchin said. “It dictates when you stop, where you stop, where you camp. New students sometimes forget to, or improperly treat their water, or on a hot day, after hours of hiking, plunge into cool pools without thinking about the potential hazards in the water. The DEQ’s downgrades make this thought necessary.”

As he continues to gather data and evidence over the summer, Kutchin and Heilig will write formal petitions to the DEQ asking the agency to properly classify these streams to protect those who engage in primary contact recreation — like NOLS students, and other backcountry hikers, hunters, and anglers.

“I hope the DEQ will recognize how important clean water is to our outdoor lifestyle in Wyoming by responding positively to our data collection and petitions,” Kutchin said. “And I hope our work will inspire people to reflect on the central role that water plays in their lives.”

To learn more, contact Rob Kutchin at rob@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org or Dan Heilig at dan@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

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Our work relies on the support of our members. Will you support our clean water campaign this summer by making a donation?

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Meet the Outdoor Council’s Summer Legal Intern

Fourteen years ago, our program director, Lisa McGeegot her start at the Wyoming Outdoor Council as a legal intern, having just completed her second year at the University of Wyoming College of Law. The internship, although brief, was formative for Lisa, inspiring her to pursue a life of nonprofit conservation advocacy and providing an opportunity that has shaped her entire career.

This summer, as part of our ongoing effort to cultivate the next generation of conservation advocates, the Outdoor Council welcomes Ian Smith for a similar opportunity. Ian is working closely with Senior Conservation Advocate Dan Heilig until the end of July, when he will return to the University of Wyoming for his second year of law school.

Photo courtesy of Ian Smith

Ian is originally from Jackson, and grew up in Wyoming’s great outdoors. His parents, both former instructors for the National Outdoor Leadership School, never took Ian to Disneyland. Instead, they ventured into the wilds of the Green River Basin and the Grand Tetons during school vacations. After graduating from high school, Ian pursued a degree in business administration at the University of Colorado Boulder. But one semester he studied abroad in Italy and “never really came home.” It proved to be a productive decision: with two fellow students, he started a travel agency, which allowed him to travel throughout Europe and learn the realities of running a business.

Ian’s time abroad also helped him realize the value of wild places and the natural world he’d grown up in, which is why he eventually sought an internship with the Council.

“I spent a lot of time in the Italian and Swiss Alps, and as beautiful as they are, you can tell they are drastically overused,” he says. “Humans have taken their toll on the ecosystem and have tamed the wilderness there. I witnessed that firsthand.”

Armed with this new awareness and appreciation for public lands, Ian returned to the US in 2010 with his wife Victoria to finish his degree in international business at the University of San Francisco. Prodded by Victoria to pursue a law degree, he applied and was accepted to the University of Wyoming College of Law, where he began his studies in 2016, focusing on environmental law.

“In the first year of law school many students don’t really know what they want to do,” Ian says. He reached out to other attorneys to learn about the different paths he might pursue. Dan Heilig happened to be a close family friend—Ian’s parents and Dan both taught NOLS courses together in the early 1970s—and was one of the first people Ian spoke with.

“After hearing about what WOC does and the advocacy work that Dan was involved with, I was immediately interested,” he says.

Ian is particularly interested in Dan’s research and work related to the Clean Water Act and water quality standards in Wyoming. It won’t be the first time Ian’s been exposed to water issues. During his first year in law school, he participated in a prestigious international law competition with his university team, where they were asked to defend a problem dealing with international water rights. Ian’s team ended up advancing to the finals—the first year the school has ever done so. This experience deepened Ian’s interest in these issues and also helped prepare him for the work he is assisting Dan with this summer.

Although Ian doesn’t know the path he will pursue when he graduates, he knows that this experience will be valuable.

“Without a doubt, no matter what I do, I know I will always be an environmental advocate, whether as a private citizen or serving in some legal capacity,” Ian says.

Beyond the practical lessons on how decisions are made in Wyoming, Lisa hopes Ian will get a good sense of what day-to-day advocacy work looks like—legal analysis, talking to people about their interests, finding common ground and, of course, spending time outside, to remember why our work is so important.

 

Speak out!

There’s a lot of bad news coming out of Washington these days, and Wyoming’s delegation needs to hear from you.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso is leading an effort to strip the BLM of its ability to reduce waste and deter pollution from oil and gas operations. After a long public process, the BLM has revised its decades-old rule related to natural gas waste on public lands—specifically it would require companies to fix leaky, faulty equipment and to reduce waste as much as possible. The rule, which was finalized late last year, is popular with the public. Common sense tells us that wasting finite natural resources has no benefit. It’s simply a bad practice that results in air pollution and lost revenue to the American people from royalties and severance taxes. According to estimates from the Western Values Project, Wyoming alone lost out on more than $60 million in royalties over the last five years due to venting, flaring, and unrepaired natural gas leaks on federal lands.

Some members of Congress are also trying to undo recent updates to the federal land planning process. Last year, the Bureau of Land Management released a rule that improved how the agency will plan for decisions made on our public lands. “Planning 2.0” as the BLM calls it, would ensure that the agency is more collaborative, more transparent, and more inclusive of citizen input. These improvements would move planning on BLM lands into the 21st century and are long overdue. Congress should not undo the years of work that got the BLM to this better place.

President Donald Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt has close ties to the oil and gas industry, has sued the EPA on numerous occasions, and has repeatedly demonstrated that he is ideologically opposed to the EPA’s core mission. We need an administrator who is dedicated to protecting the American people from harmful air and water pollutants, and from the threats of climate change—not someone who is at odds with those goals.

What Can You Do?

Please call Rep. Liz Cheney and Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and make sure they hear your voice!

  1. Ask them to vote “no” when the Bureau of Land Management’s “Methane Waste Rule” and “Planning 2.0 Rule” are considered for repeal under the Congressional Review Act. If Congress uses this act, the BLM will be prohibited from ever passing the same or similar rules again.
  2. Sen. Barrasso has already voted in committee to allow Pruitt’s nomination to move to a full Senate vote. Tell Sen. Barrasso you disapprove of his vote, and urge Sen. Enzi to vote against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator.

Senator John Barrasso Phone: (202) 224-6441

Representative Liz Cheney Phone: (202) 225-2311

Senator Mike Enzi Phone: (202) 224-3424

 

Don’t Give Up on Clean Water: Maps of the Reclassified Streams & How to Improve Wyoming’s Plan for E. coli Pollution

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Scroll down or click here for maps depicting the reclassified (downgraded) streams

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By Gary Wilmot, executive director
This article originally ran as an Op-Ed in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

There is a lot at stake in the state’s plan to reclassify more than three-quarters of its streams to allow for levels of E. coli that would be unhealthy for swimming and playing. We think this plan in its current form is flawed, but we also see a path forward for improvement.

From our conversations with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, we understand that this effort was an attempt to appropriately classify “low flow” waterways where outdoor recreation such as swimming, floating, playing, and cooling off in the water is not expected to take place.

We understand the impetus behind this decision and, in the abstract, it makes some sense. There is no reason that many ephemeral streams and dry draws in Wyoming should be managed as “primary contact” recreation waters when they clearly are not used for recreation.

But the problem that the Wyoming Outdoor Council and many citizens and recreation groups have with this plan is that it uses a model to reclassify streams that inappropriately downgraded lots of waterways that people actually use for recreation, especially in the summer months—including in the mountains, and on national forests.

So where do we go from here? We think there is a solution—a middle ground—where the model can be improved to better protect recreational values and comply with the Clean Water Act.

Here are some examples of improvements we’re asking the state to consider:

  • Scrap the assumption that people will not walk more than a half-mile from a trailhead or a mile from a population center to play in the water. Thousands of people hike for miles and miles in Wyoming every year, especially during the summer months.
  • If we are really trying to address low flow waters, then make this rule more about low flow waters. Setting the standard below the current mark of 6 cfs just makes sense and it would help prevent unintended downgrades.
  • Protect places like wilderness areas. I bet we can all agree that there are places on our public lands that support recreation and tourism and those places should maintain the highest standards for water quality. If primary contact recreation isn’t an attainable use in wilderness then we’ve really blown it as stewards of clean water.
  • Rather than using the average annual flow of mountain streams to determine whether primary contact recreation is an “attainable use,” use instead more appropriate seasonal flow data for the summer months, when the snowpack runoff is at its peak (when outdoor recreation is also at its peak).
  • Acknowledge that roads and hiking trails aren’t so different. Access to the state’s waters isn’t always at the end of a street, and the streams located near the state’s trail corridors are just as important as the local swimming hole.

Wyoming took on a lot when it launched this effort to appropriately classify all of the state’s surface waters with a one-size-fits-all rule. And while the new plan removes some real challenges for industry, agriculture, and the state’s regulators, it missed the mark in maybe the most important way. This was a reclassification for recreational use—and the current plan doesn’t capture all the ways that Wyoming people and visitors to our state recreate.

Let’s fix the problem. The Wyoming Outdoor Council believes there is a way forward and we hope the state will incorporate our suggestions as well as those of everybody who cares about these recreational values in Wyoming. We are encouraged that the state recently agreed to accept public comments on this rule. Let’s make the most of this opportunity. There will be a hearing on this proposal in Casper on September 16. We encourage everyone who wants to participate to get your comments to the DEQ either at that meeting or prior to it via mail or fax. If Casper is inconvenient, you might also request a hearing in your local community. 


You can fax or mail written comments to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality by directing them to David Waterstreet at 307-777-5973 (fax), or 122 W. 25th St. Herschler Bldg. 4W Cheyenne, WY 82002.


Maps of the reclassified (downgraded) streams

Absaroka Range: North | Central | Southeast | Southwest
Bighorn County
Johnson County: North | South
Natrona County: North | South
Sheridan County: East | West
Snowy Range: Overview | North | Central North | Central South | South
Vedauwoo and Curt Cowdy State Park Area
Teton County
Wind River Range: North | Central North | Central South | South
Washakie County
Wyoming Range: North | Central | South

Click on the image or do a “save as” for a larger, easier-to-view image.

Absaroka Range North

Absarokas North

Absaroka Range Central

Absarokas Middle

Absaroka Range Southeast

Absarokas Southeast

Absaroka Range Southwest

Absarokas Southwest

Bighorn County

Bighorn County-web

Johnson County North

Johnson County North

Johnson County South

Johnson County South

Natrona County North

Natrona County North

Natrona County South

Natrona County South

Sheridan County East

Sheridan County East

Sheridan County West

Sheridan County West

Snowy Range Overview

Snowy Range Overview

Snowy Range North

Snowy Range North

Snowy Range Central North

snowy range middle north

Snowy Range Central South

Snowy Range Middle South

Snowy Range South

Snowy Range South

Teton County

Teton_County_web

Vedauwoo and Curt Gowdy State Park Area

Vedauwoo and Curt Gowdy

Wind River Range North

Wind River Range North

Wind River Range Central North

WInd River Range Central North

Wind River Range Central South

Wind River Range Central South

Wind River Range South

Wind River Range South

Washakie County

Washakie County

Wyoming Range North

Wyoming Range North

Wyoming Range – Central

Wyoming Range Middle

Wyoming Range South

Wyoming Range South

All maps except for the Teton County map were produced by Western Sense using stream data provided by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The Teton County map was produced by the Teton Conservation District (source here).


You can fax or mail written comments to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality by directing them to David Waterstreet at 307-777-5973 (fax), or 122 W. 25th St. Herschler Bldg. 4W Cheyenne, WY 82002.


 

Let the state of Wyoming know you value clean water

The state of Wyoming wants to allow substantially higher levels of E. coli in more than three-quarters of its streams. What can you do?

Click here to take action.

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Photo: Scott Kane

Last summer, the state of Wyoming made a decision—we think it’s a bad one—that would allow up to five times more E. coli than was previously permissible in more than three-quarters of the state’s surface waters. This includes thousands of miles of streams on national forests and other public lands.

Families, youth campers, hikers, and anglers routinely use many of the affected streams for recreation. Across Wyoming, our livelihoods and our lives depend on clean water.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council worked hard this winter to give the Environmental Protection Agency the information and feedback it needs to disapprove this decision by the state, and many of you helped with that effort.

Now we need you to show your support for clean water in Wyoming again: on June 5, 2015, the EPA informed the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality that it must hold a public hearing and reach out to recreational groups before the EPA can approve the new, higher permissible levels of E. coli. Find the public notice here.

Based on your own personal experiences, we are asking for your help to submit comments, or, better yet, to attend this meeting and make the point to the DEQ that primary contact recreation (i.e. swimming, bathing, and similar activities involving a high degree of contact with the water) can and does often occur on these low flow streams in rural and undeveloped areas.

Public Hearing for Categorical Use Attainability Analysis
5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 16
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Basko Building
2211 King Boulevard, Casper, WY

If you can’t make it to this event, click here to send a letter to the DEQ. Furthermore, if you can provide personal photos of recreation in these low flow streams as shown in light blue on this map, please consider including copies of your photos along with your letter.

Your comments and photos will serve as evidence that people do, indeed, participate in primary contact recreation in these streams where higher levels of E. coli are would be allowed.

Click here to take action and to learn more.

Let’s talk about the merits of the BLM’s fracking rule

The following letter was published as an opinion piece by executive director Gary Wilmot in the Casper Star-Tribune on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

gary_square_200x200On the heels of last week’s announcement of the Interior Department’s new fracking rule, the state of Wyoming followed the lead of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance and filed a lawsuit opposing it.

To date, the press releases from industry groups and the governor’s office have focused primarily on what some view as federal over-reach. But little has been said about the actual rule or its merits. Let’s change the focus of our conversation. Safeguarding public health and our shared natural resources is in everybody’s best interest.

Without a doubt Wyoming has been a leader in its regulation of hydraulic fracturing. In fact, the state has already adopted many of the provisions the new fracking rule calls for. And one of the best things about the new rule is that it provides states like Wyoming the opportunity to request a variance when their own rules are as strong as or stronger than the federal one.

For instance, Wyoming has been a leader in requiring that companies publicly disclose chemicals used in fracking, and the state also recently improved its oversight of chemicals considered to be “trade secrets.” As such, the state should be granted a variance for these regulations. Wyoming is already ahead of the BLM in other areas, too – most notably in its requirement that companies collect baseline water quality before fracking. The new BLM rule does not require baseline testing, an we think it should.

Unfortunately, not all states share Wyoming’s foresight on fracking: Some don’t regulate the practice at all, or do so in less protective ways. Unfortunately, environmental problems don’t stop at the state line. But because the new BLM rule applies to fracking on federal public lands, it gives not only Wyoming citizens but all Americans assurance that public health and safety is better protected by putting in place a safety net – a minimum standard that all states must meet.

Notably, some of what the BLM will require does provide better protection for human health and water resources than Wyoming’s rules do. For example, the BLM will require testing to confirm well-bore integrity on every well drilled. This is important. Industry representatives have, over the years, told the public that it is not fracking per se that poses a risk to groundwater, but rather problems with well-bore integrity. The BLM is now calling on industry to be accountable in this regard. This is a commonsense, best-management practice that industry and Wyoming should get behind.

States and the federal government have a joint responsibility to protect public health and our shared natural resources. It’s not always an effortless path, but it’s clearly one worth pursuing. Lawsuits are easy to file. The harder work is keeping up the conversation, focusing on the merits of rules – and on the people and resources those rules seek to protect. A substantive conversation is what will actually move our state and country forward as we work toward a truly responsible energy strategy.