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Teton County

Beneath the Surface

Posted on by Brandon Reynolds

BENEATH THE SURFACE

The quiet work of watchdogging Wyoming’s water

Like the rest of the landscape, water in Wyoming is dramatic. Rivers carve through canyons, geysers erupt from below ground, reservoirs emerge from arid shrublands, and idyllic trout streams meander down from the mountains. And with water for agriculture and industry in limited supply, any conversation about water management is likely to turn heated. 

Clean water is vital to our health, economy, and quality of life in Wyoming — and to the fish, wildlife, and plant life that surrounds us. Protecting clean water is a core part of the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s mission. But with a few notable exceptions, it’s a quiet undertaking: Much of this work happens behind a desk or on the phone, pouring over technical documents to identify threats to water from industrial development or shifting regulations. 

The nitty gritty work of an advocacy group like the Outdoor Council is watchdogging government actions at the state level. This can involve reviewing proposed rule changes within the Department of Environmental Quality or actions by the legislature. Or we may focus on more discrete topics, like permits to allow companies to inject polluted water underground or to dispose of pollutants into bodies of water on the surface. Oftentimes, opportunities to review and comment on proposed actions escape the attention of citizens and other advocacy groups who can’t dedicate a full-time staff member to water quality. Fortunately, the Outdoor Council can serve this role. And we often work with partner groups around the state to divide and conquer, ensuring these issues have the attention they deserve. 

Reading public notices for draft wastewater discharge permits, proposed state agency rule changes, or legislative bill drafts is not what most folks consider exciting. Still, it’s essential: Sifting through these dense and technical documents is the front line of protection for clean water. Eventually we may show up at public meetings to ask tough questions. But if and when we decide to provide comments to regulators and decision makers on an issue and encourage citizens to do the same, we’ve done the legwork to identify and understand the problem and any possible solutions. 

The ability to engage with agency staff and lawmakers, and to access the draft permits and regulations as well as the underlying data, is critical. Transparency keeps government accountable to the public and gives everyday citizens the ability to take action. 

The Outdoor Council is working on some important water issues right now — like oilfield wastewater that’s flowing to Boysen Reservoir and could potentially be injected into the Madison Aquifer, and septic system rules and water quality planning in Teton County — but they weren’t dropped in our lap. We have to dig deep to uncover problems, bring them to the public’s attention, get agencies or decision makers to take a harder look or change their approach. It’s this work that often — but not always — yields positive outcomes. 

We’re a small staff with a broad mission, and we can’t read every permit — much less conduct an in-depth review. But we’ve found success in focusing on geographic areas that are particularly sensitive or vulnerable to pollution, and on specific issues we’ve worked with communities on in the past. The quiet work of watchdogging water helps Wyoming citizens make their voices heard, loud and clear.

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Field Notes: November updates from the Wyoming Outdoor Council

Posted on by Alan Rogers
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TETON COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATES

The Teton County Board of Commissioners and Jackson Town Council voted to approve a number of updates to the county’s comprehensive land use plan. This document, which will guide development over the coming years, was revised to include important water quality protections proposed by the Wyoming Outdoor Council and Protect Our Water Jackson Hole. Chief among them is a directive for the county to develop a wastewater management plan that will address rising levels of nitrates in the Snake River Aquifer, which serves as the county’s only source of drinking water. 

A patchwork of small wastewater plants, independent sewer districts, and private septic systems are serving Jackson Hole’s growing population, and some of these systems are unable to keep up with the demand or otherwise not functioning as intended. The wastewater management plan is expected to lead to improved regulation of treatment facilities and septic systems. 

In the comprehensive plan, the county recognizes the public’s right to clean, affordable drinking water and the importance of the Snake River Aquifer. The plan also commits the county to:

  • Gather baseline data and coordinate with other agencies to monitor water quality.
  • Investigate regulations and ordinances to protect public water systems.
  • Examine new tools to protect water quality, such as an aquifer protection overlay.
  • Encourage public water suppliers to establish or update source water assessments and protection plans.

AETHON INJECTION REQUEST

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission voted to allow a company to inject oil and gas wastewater from the Moneta Divide field into the Madison formation, an aquifer protected under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This is unfortunate: More than 100 written comments, as well as public testimony before the commission, were unanimously opposed to this decision.

The company argued the depth of the aquifer at the well site, and levels of benzene in groundwater samples taken from the well, make it an impractical fresh water source. But the benzene may in fact be contamination from drilling mud used to bore the well and the state Department of Environmental Quality previously determined the aquifer was a viable source of drinking water. There’s also evidence that wastewater injected at the site will eventually spread.

In the arid West, faced with the uncertainty of a changing climate, we aren’t willing to sacrifice a source of fresh water that may prove invaluable to future generations. The EPA has final say on whether to approve the Oil and Gas Commission’s action and we’ll continue to defend potential drinking water sources.

 

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Field Notes: October updates from the Wyoming Outdoor Council

Posted on by Alan Rogers
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MONETA DIVIDE

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality recently issued a final wastewater discharge permit for the Moneta Divide oil and gas field. In response to environmental concerns and strong public opposition, the permit rejects Aethon Energy’s request to increase (by almost 400 percent) the amount of contaminated water it discharges into tributaries of Boysen Reservoir, and includes stronger pollution controls. Engaged citizens like you were crucial to guiding this decision: thank you! 

This new permit is still not without flaws, however. It gives Aethon four years to come into compliance with the new standards despite ongoing violations of the previous, more lenient permit. The Outdoor Council will continue to advocate for an accelerated compliance schedule. 

Aethon is now seeking to inject some of its contaminated water into the Madison formation, a drinking water quality aquifer protected under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission will hold a hearing November 10 to consider this proposal. We’re asking Outdoor Council members to contact the commission and ask them to protect our drinking water by denying Aethon’s request.


TETON COUNTY STATE LANDS

During the 2020 session, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill soliciting proposals for parcels of state land in Teton County. The Outdoor Council has collaborated with several partner organizations to submit recommendations on these parcels to the Office of State Lands and Investments. 

Most of the parcels in question are adjacent to federal public lands — primarily Grand Teton National Park and Bridger-Teton National Forest. We support selling these parcels to the federal agency in question to keep them open to the public and free from development, while also generating revenue for the state. For parcels surrounded by private land we recommended a mix of solutions including conservation easement, transfer to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to manage as wildlife habitat, and private development adhering to the Teton County Comprehensive Plan. 

Because these land transfers could take years to implement, we also proposed uses of these lands that could produce revenue for the state in the short term. These include conservation leasing, leases for recreation or tourism, and maintaining existing cattle grazing.

 

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Teton County and the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative

Posted on by Lisa McGee
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.5″] More than two years ago, at the invitation of the Wyoming County Commission Association, Teton County and nine other counties opted to participate in the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative. This effort sought to resolve how wilderness study areas and other public lands on BLM and national forest land should be managed in the long term. Counties would appoint citizens representing various user groups (recreation, agriculture, oil and gas, conservation, sportsmen, etc.) to seek common ground and come up with a management recommendation for these public lands. If an advisory group reached consensus, its recommendations would be sent to the WCCA, which would package it, along with recommendations from other counties, into legislation that Senator Barrasso could introduce in Congress as a comprehensive Wyoming public lands bill.

Wilderness Study Areas and Their Uses

Many of the uses currently allowed in WSAs would be prohibited if these areas were formally designated as wilderness. An example is Palisades, straddling Teton and Lincoln counties. First made a WSA under the 1984 Wyoming Wilderness Act, Palisades is managed to maintain its wilderness character and its potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Act allowed the possibility of oil and gas exploration, and determined that snowmobiling could legally continue “in the same manner and degree” as it had before 1984. Today, of course, oil and gas exploration is no longer a threat to Palisades — but snowmobiling is popular. And despite not being an established or allowable use of these lands under the 1984 Wyoming Wilderness Act, mountain biking has gotten a foothold here. Wilderness supporters look to WSAs and other roadless public lands as places that could, in the future, be given formal wilderness designations — making mountain biking and snowmobiling off limits. Many mountain bikers and snowmobilers believe conservation gains are possible even without a formal wilderness designation. Within the conservation community, it’s a complicated issue with no easy answer.

The Committee: Shared Values and Different Perspectives

On the question of whether to recommend that Palisades be designated as wilderness, the Teton County advisory committee faced a zero-sum game. Because wilderness areas don’t allow for motorized or any kind of wheel-based recreation, one group could only “win” if another group “lost.” Recognizing that from the start, many committee members suggested looking beyond Palisades and Shoal Creek WSAs. Were there other public lands in Teton County that might be designated as wilderness — a solution that would allow biking and snowmobiling to continue in Palisades? Some members of the committee didn’t believe this was a fair outcome. For them, no amount of new wilderness elsewhere would make up for the lack of a wilderness designation in Palisades. Others believed Teton County didn’t “need” any more wilderness. They noted that even if the uses they enjoyed in Palisades continued, they didn’t like the idea that other places might be off limits to those uses. The Wyoming Outdoor Council sought areas of agreement among all 18 committee members. We asked: Does anyone want to see oil and gas development, hard rock mining, or large-scale commercial timber harvest on our public lands in Teton County? The answer was a resounding no. That’s significant: thirty years ago, such consensus would have been nearly impossible. We asked: Does everyone agree that our recreational uses shouldn’t hurt wildlife? A resounding yes. Clearly, the committee shared the most fundamental values.

What’s Next?

Finally, after months of discussion and hard work, the committee put forth a recommendation to prohibit oil and gas development, hard rock mining, and commercial timber harvest and the associated roads necessary for these industrial uses on the national forest lands in Teton County. Does this recommendation resolve the status of Palisades and Shoal Creek WSAs? It doesn’t. But it’s an essential first step to defining a vision for public land management in Teton County that prioritizes wildlife and recreation. Federal legislation is the only way to make this shared vision an enforceable reality. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_cta _builder_version=”3.17.5″ title=”Support recommendations that prioritize wildlife and recreation in Teton County” button_text=”Contact the Teton County Commissioners” button_url=”mailto:commissioners@tetoncountywy.gov” url_new_window=”on”] Please urge the Teton County commissioners to forward this unanimous recommendation to the Wyoming County Commission Association and Senator Barrasso. [/et_pb_cta][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.5″] Please email lisa@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org with questions. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]