Governor: Stop oil, gas leasing
Freudenthal protests BLM gas boom, calls for protection of wildlife migration corridors.
June 9, 2004
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr.
Grand Teton National Park's dwindling antelope herd got a break Monday when Gov. Dave Freudenthal protested the Bureau of Land Management's plans to lease more land in Sublette County for oil and gas development.
In a letter to BLM State Director Bob Bennett, Freudenthal said the agency should first complete a sweeping environmental study before it offered another round of parcels for lease on Tuesday. The Teton antelope herd makes the second-longest terrestrial migration in the Western Hemisphere but is threatened by gas development in Sublette County and rural sprawl.
Freudenthal said the agency already has leased 75 percent of the Pinedale area even as it is revising its area Resource Management Plan, an overriding document designed to analyze the impacts of oil and gas development.
That's "unsound," Freudenthal wrote. "This draft RMP will likely have a significant impact on whether additional leasing is appropriate, and I believe it would be prudent to delay the issuance of any additional leases until the draft RMP has had the opportunity to be published, reviewed, commented upon and finalized," Freudenthal wrote. "To do otherwise would seem to run contrary to the goal of deliberate and responsible development."
The BLM held its lease sale on Tuesday, but "flagged" the protested parcels in Sublette County to put bidders on notice. The leases will not be developed until an evaluation is completed by the state director's office, said Andy Tenney, a BLM spokesman in Cheyenne.
The BLM will evaluate the merits of the protest and determine whether to reject the leases and reimburse the oil and gas bidders. As to the governor's letter, Tenney said the director's office would look into the environmental impacts listed by the governor but would not comment on specific issues such as wildlife corridors and well spacing.
"The state director took the governor's letter into consideration," he said.
The Petroleum Association of Wyoming said the industry needs to continue tapping natural gas resources in the Equality State to meet a growing a demand.
"If you take only what we're developing today, we're not going to be able to meet demand over time," said Dru Bower, vice president of the association.
At issue is the Grand Teton National Park antelope herd, which has been declining and numbers less than 300, and its migration corridors to winter range in Sublette County. Endangering its travel route and winter range are oil and gas developments and sprawling rural development in the upper Green River drainage. At risk too is range, particular winter range, for elk, sage grouse, deer and other wildlife.
Freudenthal said significant new information makes his protest valid.
Existing management documents "never contemplated the level of development that currently exists within the boundaries of the Pinedale Field Office," including well spacings as close as five acres apiece, Freudenthal wrote. "Given such developments, significantly different from those anticipated under the existing RMP, additional leasing is inappropriate, and potentially outside the scope of impacts identified in the existing RMP.
The oil and gas industry has plenty of other action to attend to in the meantime, Freudenthal said. He cited an Associated Press report that said 77 percent of leased areas are not producing oil or gas.
"If accurate, it appears there is ample opportunity for development to continue without additional leases being offered for sale in the Pinedale RMP area," Freudenthal wrote.
Conservationists hailed the governor's action.
"The conservation community has been protesting [Pinedale area leases] for at least two years now, for the exact same reason the governor protested this lease sale," said Peter Aengst in the Bozeman, Mont., office of the Wilderness Society. "It just makes common sense when you revise your plan, you want to keep all your options on the table. The BLM has decided to undercut the public and the state's ability to have a say in the management of their public lands."
Leasing has been promoted by the Bush administration at the expense of planning, according to internal memos on the topic made available by Aengst. Leasing was supposed to be suspended when major planning revisions were underway, federal memos reveal. Those instructions were revised under Bush to allow leasing to continue, even in the face of major revisions in federal land management plans, as long as "leasing will not constrain the choice of reasonable alternatives under consideration."
Conservationists contend oil and gas development in Sublette County is coming at the expense of other values.
"The bottom line is that the Pinedale area already has most if its lands under lease, yet it also has some tremendous values wildlife, air quality, water quality, fishing," Aengst said. "How those are protected is going to depend on this new plan. It's vitally important we preserve options by stopping leasing during this [plan] revision process."
Leasing is a key step in the development process, conservationists say. Once federal land is leased to a company, that company has contractual rights that allow development.
Yet the impact of development is inadequately examined before leases are issued, conservationists complain. Once leases are issued, "They've pretty much sold the farm and their hands are tied," Aengst said of the BLM.
Freudenthal tipped his hand last week in Jackson when he assailed the BLM at the Teton Green Building Conference at Jackson Lake Lodge. "We've asked that they require more directional drilling, which leaves a smaller footprint," Freudenthal said. But directional drilling is more expensive and "they want to do it as cheaply as possible," the governor complained.
"They're laying off costs on the environment of this state instead of internalizing them," Freudenthal said. And given high energy prices, companies have no excuse to use the cheapest methods available. "At these prices you can directionaly drill a long way," he said.
Directional drilling, or slant drilling, is a process in which several wells are drilled in different directions from a single well pad. The pad usually measures about five acres. Four wells can be drilled from a single pad, limiting the impact to the environment.
At the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Erik Molvar outlined production costs and income from an average well.
In the Jonah Field south of Pinedale, for example, Molvar said the average well costs $2 million to drill and an extra $200,000 if it is drilled directionaly. In that Jonah Field, wells are expected to gross $19 million apiece at the existing price of natural gas.
Thus, the additional cost of directional drilling amounts to one percent of what an average well produces in the Jonah Field at today's gas prices, according to Molvar's figures.
Molvar's figures are too "simplistic," said Bower of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. She said that directional drilling is sometimes impossible because of the subsurface geology and other complications.
The Petroleum Association, like the governor, advocates "responsible development," Bower said. "Leasing does not equal development," she said.
Tuesday's lease sale of 157 parcels covering 132,000 acres across the state brought in $10.5 million.
Freudenthal protests BLM gas boom, calls for protection of wildlife migration corridors.
June 9, 2004
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr.
Grand Teton National Park's dwindling antelope herd got a break Monday when Gov. Dave Freudenthal protested the Bureau of Land Management's plans to lease more land in Sublette County for oil and gas development.
In a letter to BLM State Director Bob Bennett, Freudenthal said the agency should first complete a sweeping environmental study before it offered another round of parcels for lease on Tuesday. The Teton antelope herd makes the second-longest terrestrial migration in the Western Hemisphere but is threatened by gas development in Sublette County and rural sprawl.
Freudenthal said the agency already has leased 75 percent of the Pinedale area even as it is revising its area Resource Management Plan, an overriding document designed to analyze the impacts of oil and gas development.
That's "unsound," Freudenthal wrote. "This draft RMP will likely have a significant impact on whether additional leasing is appropriate, and I believe it would be prudent to delay the issuance of any additional leases until the draft RMP has had the opportunity to be published, reviewed, commented upon and finalized," Freudenthal wrote. "To do otherwise would seem to run contrary to the goal of deliberate and responsible development."
The BLM held its lease sale on Tuesday, but "flagged" the protested parcels in Sublette County to put bidders on notice. The leases will not be developed until an evaluation is completed by the state director's office, said Andy Tenney, a BLM spokesman in Cheyenne.
The BLM will evaluate the merits of the protest and determine whether to reject the leases and reimburse the oil and gas bidders. As to the governor's letter, Tenney said the director's office would look into the environmental impacts listed by the governor but would not comment on specific issues such as wildlife corridors and well spacing.
"The state director took the governor's letter into consideration," he said.
The Petroleum Association of Wyoming said the industry needs to continue tapping natural gas resources in the Equality State to meet a growing a demand.
"If you take only what we're developing today, we're not going to be able to meet demand over time," said Dru Bower, vice president of the association.
At issue is the Grand Teton National Park antelope herd, which has been declining and numbers less than 300, and its migration corridors to winter range in Sublette County. Endangering its travel route and winter range are oil and gas developments and sprawling rural development in the upper Green River drainage. At risk too is range, particular winter range, for elk, sage grouse, deer and other wildlife.
Freudenthal said significant new information makes his protest valid.
Existing management documents "never contemplated the level of development that currently exists within the boundaries of the Pinedale Field Office," including well spacings as close as five acres apiece, Freudenthal wrote. "Given such developments, significantly different from those anticipated under the existing RMP, additional leasing is inappropriate, and potentially outside the scope of impacts identified in the existing RMP.
The oil and gas industry has plenty of other action to attend to in the meantime, Freudenthal said. He cited an Associated Press report that said 77 percent of leased areas are not producing oil or gas.
"If accurate, it appears there is ample opportunity for development to continue without additional leases being offered for sale in the Pinedale RMP area," Freudenthal wrote.
Conservationists hailed the governor's action.
"The conservation community has been protesting [Pinedale area leases] for at least two years now, for the exact same reason the governor protested this lease sale," said Peter Aengst in the Bozeman, Mont., office of the Wilderness Society. "It just makes common sense when you revise your plan, you want to keep all your options on the table. The BLM has decided to undercut the public and the state's ability to have a say in the management of their public lands."
Leasing has been promoted by the Bush administration at the expense of planning, according to internal memos on the topic made available by Aengst. Leasing was supposed to be suspended when major planning revisions were underway, federal memos reveal. Those instructions were revised under Bush to allow leasing to continue, even in the face of major revisions in federal land management plans, as long as "leasing will not constrain the choice of reasonable alternatives under consideration."
Conservationists contend oil and gas development in Sublette County is coming at the expense of other values.
"The bottom line is that the Pinedale area already has most if its lands under lease, yet it also has some tremendous values wildlife, air quality, water quality, fishing," Aengst said. "How those are protected is going to depend on this new plan. It's vitally important we preserve options by stopping leasing during this [plan] revision process."
Leasing is a key step in the development process, conservationists say. Once federal land is leased to a company, that company has contractual rights that allow development.
Yet the impact of development is inadequately examined before leases are issued, conservationists complain. Once leases are issued, "They've pretty much sold the farm and their hands are tied," Aengst said of the BLM.
Freudenthal tipped his hand last week in Jackson when he assailed the BLM at the Teton Green Building Conference at Jackson Lake Lodge. "We've asked that they require more directional drilling, which leaves a smaller footprint," Freudenthal said. But directional drilling is more expensive and "they want to do it as cheaply as possible," the governor complained.
"They're laying off costs on the environment of this state instead of internalizing them," Freudenthal said. And given high energy prices, companies have no excuse to use the cheapest methods available. "At these prices you can directionaly drill a long way," he said.
Directional drilling, or slant drilling, is a process in which several wells are drilled in different directions from a single well pad. The pad usually measures about five acres. Four wells can be drilled from a single pad, limiting the impact to the environment.
At the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Erik Molvar outlined production costs and income from an average well.
In the Jonah Field south of Pinedale, for example, Molvar said the average well costs $2 million to drill and an extra $200,000 if it is drilled directionaly. In that Jonah Field, wells are expected to gross $19 million apiece at the existing price of natural gas.
Thus, the additional cost of directional drilling amounts to one percent of what an average well produces in the Jonah Field at today's gas prices, according to Molvar's figures.
Molvar's figures are too "simplistic," said Bower of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. She said that directional drilling is sometimes impossible because of the subsurface geology and other complications.
The Petroleum Association, like the governor, advocates "responsible development," Bower said. "Leasing does not equal development," she said.
Tuesday's lease sale of 157 parcels covering 132,000 acres across the state brought in $10.5 million.
