Upper Green River Valley: Wildlife Haven or Industrial Gas Field?

Wyoming's Upper Green River Valley is a magnificent western landscape of broad sagebrush plains surrounded by towering snowcapped peaks. Part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, it serves as a crucial wintering area for enormous herds of pronghorn antelope, mule deer, elk, and moose. Every spring and fall antelope complete the longest big-game migration in the lower 48 States travelling between Grand Teton National Park and the Upper Green.

The BLM has begun a process, called "scoping" which will determine issues the agency will consider as it revises its land use plan for the area. The pivotal question is whether the BLM will write a balanced plan that includes protection of free-ranging wildlife and clear vistas for our children to enjoy, or allow full-scale industrial development of this magnificent valley for the benefit of energy companies.

Your comments will help shape the answer to that question. The deadline for comments is April 1, 2003.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Scoping: Pinedale RMP

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Pinedale Field Office's Resource Management Plan revision process.

I strongly urge that, as you move forward with that process, and also as you consider whether to proceed with development of South Piney Gas Project or other energy development, you ensure that such plans adequately protect the Upper Green River Valley's other outstanding values. Among them are the Greater Yellowstone's big-game herds and clean air and water. They also include unsurpassed recreational opportunities and community values such as the survival of the area's ranching operations.

With that in mind, I specifically urge you to:

-Prohibit oil and gas leasing and development in environmentally sensitive areas. These include big-game migration corridors, bottlenecks, winter and transitional ranges, sage grouse nesting habitat, the Green and New Fork River corridors, the scenic Wind River and Wyoming Fronts and areas of critical environmental concern;

-Delay the environmental analysis of new gas projects, such as the South Piney Gas/CBM Project until the RMP is complete. This is essential since the current RMP fails to evaluate the impacts of CBM and because, without an updated RMP, the BLM cannot properly complete an impacts analysis or adopt mitigation measures;

-Cluster oil and gas development in concentrated areas and fully reclaim them before developing any other gas fields such as new CBM wells in the foothills of the Wyoming Range;

-Protect the air and water quality of local communities and of adjacent mountain ranges, where pollutants can be deposited in alpine waters;

-Adopt and strictly enforce meaningful mitigation and monitoring requirements;

-Protect the rights of surface owners where the federal government owns the mineral rights underlying private lands; and,

-Require industry to reclaim all disturbed areas and provide sufficient bonds to protect taxpayers from cleanup and restoration costs.

Thank you for your consideration of my comments and concerns. Please add my name to your mailing list so I can remain involved in this process.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 28, 2003

Background Information

Upper Green: A Crucial Wildlife Link
The Upper Green River Valley of Wyoming is Greater Yellowstone's crucial link. It connects the stunning mountain ranges that spill out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with a unique and spectacular landscape of the Red Desert.

The Valley nestles between the high peaks of the Wind River, Gros Ventre and Wyoming Ranges. It is home and habitat for impressive herds of pronghorn, mule deer and elk, as well as golden eagles, peregrine falcons and the increasingly rare sage grouse.

Wildlife Haven or Industrial Gas Field?
Each fall, more than 100,000 animals travel on ancient paths from their summer homes in Greater Yellowstone's mountain highlands in the vicinity of Grand Teton National Park to the grasslands of the Upper Green River Valley and beyond to the Red Desert. Many other unique and sensitive species find refuge in the Upper Green River Valley, including sixteen species of fish which occupy the Green River, the largest tributary to the Colorado River.

But amidst this magnificence is trouble: energy companies and government officials tout the Upper Green River Valley as becoming one of the major natural gas-producing region in the United States. In addition to the thousands of wells that already scar and fragment the landscape and the many additional wells already authorized, industry recently proposed to drill up to 210 new coal bed methane wells in the foothills of the Wyoming Range.

And that is the most serious threat to these public lands. The industry is pressing for unrestricted access to the natural gas deposits that underlie this ecologically rich and historically significant landscape.

An Opportunity for Public Involvement
The decision on whether to open these public lands to massive energy development lies in the hands of the Pinedale Field Office of the BLM. And given the emphasis the Administration has placed on opening even more public lands to drilling, the risk is clear and present. Past, present and proposed actions leave little doubt about the impact of full-scale development in the Upper Green.

For example, the BLM has already approved six major oil and gas projects that have fragmented hundreds of thousands of acres of the Valley. In addition to these already approved gas fields, the energy industry recently proposed a new project which would bring coal bed methane (CBM) development to the Valley. With the "South Piney Gas Project" industry is hoping to get approval to drill up to 210 new CBM wells in the foothills of the Wyoming Range on the western edge of the Upper Green River Valley.

Before these proposals can advance, the BLM must first update its land use management plan for the Pinedale Resource Area, which includes the 1.2 million acres of public lands in the Upper Green River Valley. A first step in that process (which will eventually lead to drafting of an environmental impact statement) is called "scoping"-asking the public what issues and concerns it has and wants reflected in the plan revisions. Our comments now, during this important phase, will influence management of this Valley for the next 10-20 years. It's a vitally important opportunity to tell the BLM that it must craft a management plan that protects the wildlife resource and carefully controls ongoing energy development. In addition, we must tell the BLM that it cannot develop the new South Piney Gas Project until it has considered your concerns and made final the revision of the Pinedale RMP.

The outcome of the process is pivotal to the health of the Upper Green's public lands, wildlife, and communities. If the Administration and industry prevail in their push to open up essentially the entire Valley to oil and gas exploration and development, and to give this use priority over all other uses, the southern reaches of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will be transformed. What is today a place of vast open spaces with free-roaming wildlife herds, critical big-game migration corridors, clean air and water, and outstanding recreational opportunities would likely become a sprawling industrial zone.