Environmental Protection Agency official Ayn Schmit included a slideshow in her presentation last week on the latest findings in the ongoing investigation into drinking water contamination in and around Pavillion, Wyoming. Click here or on the image above to view a PDF of that slideshow. Many readers will find this slideshow more accessible and more useful […]
FIELD NOTES

EPA’s November 2011 Report on Pavillion Water Contamination
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday presented its latest findings in the agency’s investigation into drinking water contamination in and around Pavillion, Wyoming. Area residents have said for years that their domestic water wells were good and clean until an oil and gas company started drilling and hydraulically fracturing or “fracking” near their homes to […]
Wyoming Looks to Craft a State Energy Policy: What to Consider
Influential Study Reveals a Complicated Story By Richard Garrett, Jr. Your voice for conservation at the Wyoming State Legislature WYOMING GOV. MATT MEAD RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that by working with state agencies, industry, legislators, and environmental groups he intends to develop a state energy policy. The governor has pointed out, quite rightly, that absent a national […]
Federal Court Reinstates Roadless Rule
Photo by Jeff Vanuga The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long-awaited decision today that secures protections for nearly 50 million acres of beloved, backcountry National Forest lands in Wyoming and throughout the nation. This landmark ruling reverses a lower court decision and it upholds the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prohibits […]
Winners of the Wyoming Outdoor Council calendar photo contest
This photo of a Golden Eagle in Sinks Canyon, by Scott Copeland, is among the winners and will appear in the our 2012 calendar. Thirteen different photographers have had their images chosen for inclusion in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2012 calendar. Thanks to everyone who submitted photographs this year. The quality of the entries—from […]
Hydraulic fracturing: what we’d like to achieve
By Steve Jones OVER THE PAST DECADE, HYDRAULIC FRACTURING, OR “FRACKING,” HAS BECOME PERVASIVE in Wyoming. These days virtually all new oil and gas wells are fracked. The University of Wyoming hosted a forum in September on the practice of hydraulic fracturing in order to explore, in a public way, the technical and environmental issues […]
UW hydraulic fracturing forum benefited from public involvement
EPA whistleblower Wes Wilson asks a question during the University of Wyoming’s forum on hydraulic fracturing in September. By Laurie Milford The University of Wyoming hosted a forum in September with the purpose of exploring the technical and environmental issues related to hydraulic fracturing and its associated activities. The two-day conference in Laramie was successful […]
WyoFile: Ozone Dilemma continues in Pinedale
Work to reduce ozone pollution has not hurt employment but has added jobs in Pinedale: Industry spokesman Earlier this year, the ozone level in Wyoming’s once pristine Upper Green River Basin spiked beyond Los Angeles’ worst smog day. Thirteen high-ozone events this past winter from oil and gas activities in the region resulted in 10 […]
Media Release: Obama abandons stronger air pollution rules
Smog in the Denver area FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 2, 2011 Contact: Bruce Pendery, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 435-752-2111; 435-760-6217; bruce@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org Wyoming Outdoor Council calls the decision ‘distressing’ Lander, Wyo. — President Barack Obama announced on Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency will abandon its plan to strengthen air-quality rules — as had been unanimously […]
Reminder: Enter our photo contest by Sept. 15
Send us your best shots! Submission deadline is September 15, 2011 DO YOU HAVE GREAT SHOTS OF WYOMING’S spectacular landscapes, wildlife, and people enjoying the great outdoors? If so, get them published in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s annual calendar. Previous calendars have included photographs by some of Wyoming’s best professional photographers, as well as some […]