The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a "moderate" approach to protect the environment and allow oil and natural gas development going forward in a draft resource management plan (RMP) for Lincoln, Uinta and Sweetwater counties in southwestern Wyoming's Green River Basin.
BLM's Kemmerer, WY, field office issued a draft RMP and environmental impact statement (EIS) earlier this month to revise the regulations for the first time in 11 years. Four alternatives were suggested, ranging from continuing current practices to significantly increasing restrictions on energy development. BLM's preferred RMP, Alternative D, would impose moderate constraints and offer "a balanced approach to land management that BLM believes best addresses the issues, management concerns, and purpose and need for revising the existing RMP."
The existing plans "no longer serve as a useful guide for resource management in the Kemmerer planning area," BLM noted. "For example, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, coupled with the nation's growing demand for domestic energy, resulted in different priorities than were foreseen when the existing plan was established in 1986."
"The draft RMP/EIS provides important information to the public regarding the management direction for BLM-administered lands in our area," said BLM's Michele Easley, Kemmerer RMP EIS project leader. "Because of the importance of this document, we are seeking public input and look forward to receiving comments to help us finalize a management plan that will serve us well into future."
At the end of 2003, BLM said 58 oil and gas fields were named and producing within the planning area.
According to BLM, 1.12 million acres, or 71% of the federal lands in the planning area, has "low development potential for oil and gas resources." About 20% (351,651 acres) has "moderate" potential; 8% (112,160 acres) is classified as "high development potential." Under Alternative D, 181,716 acres of federal mineral estate would be unavailable for oil and gas leasing. The remaining land in the planning area would have the following constraints: 64,171 acres subject to standard stipulations; 1.042 million acres subject to moderate constraints; and 290,973 acres subject to major constraints.
