Sporting
and conservation organizations will gather in Rock Springs, Wyo.,
April 26-28, to discuss the increasing conflict between oil and gas
development and Wyoming’s clean air and wildlife. Many residents
are alarmed by industry predictions that natural gas production
will boom in the next 20 years, says the nonprofit Wyoming Outdoor
Council, organizers of Red Desert Blues: The Industrialization of
Southwest Wyoming. The group says the Bureau of Land Management has
already leased over 90 percent of public lands in the Green River
Basin to oil and gas developers, and ranchers and recreationists
are concerned about the proliferation of pipelines, roads and wells
on land that contains critical habitat for antelope, elk, moose,
deer and raptors.
Some of those fears have been
confirmed by a recent BLM study – requested by several federal
agencies – on the cumulative air-quality impacts of just three
proposed gas development projects in the basin. The study concluded
that the projects would harm air and water in adjacent wilderness
areas in the Wind River Range. In addition, supervisors for two
national forests in the region – the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton –
recently warned the BLM that failure to address air-quality issues
could result in violations of the Clean Air Act. Speakers at the
conference include Wyoming geologist J. David Love, Rep. George
Miller, D-Calif., and Chris Flavin, vice president for research at
the Worldwatch Institute. Registration before April 15 is $40. For
information, call 307/332-7031.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wild Wyoming under siege.
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