Lease sale worries advocates

An oil and gas lease auction set to start July 11 has members of the Wyoming Outdoor Council concerned about possible drilling in sensitive areas located in Sweetwater County.

An auction hosted by the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments lists 187 parcels throughout the state, consisting of 65,422 acres of land. More than 29,000 acres of that land is within Sweetwater County. One parcel, labeled Parcel 166, is primarily within the Sand Dunes Wilderness Study Area, with the exclusion of the area around Boar’s Tusk near the Killpecker Sand Dunes. The area within the parcel totals 640 acres and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with bids starting at $1 per acre.

RJ Pieper, a public lands advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council in Rock Springs, said the lease could result in oil and gas exploration occurring within the immediate vicinity of Boar’s Tusk.

“Boar’s Tusk is an iconic landmark in Sweetwater County,” Pieper said. “It would be a shame to see oil and gas development next to it.”

Bridget Hill, director of the Office of State Lands and Investments said parcels are either nominated by oil and gas companies to be included in an auction or are nominated internally.

“Regardless of whether the parcel is nominated or identified internally, we undertake a due diligence process whereby we review the parcels to see if there would be any conflicts with existing uses and also solicit comments from the Game and Fish Department and The Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources to determine whether stipulations for operating in the area should be attached to the lease,” Hill said in an email to the Star. “Most leases have stipulations related to wildlife and cultural resources.”

According to Energynet.com, a website used to list and auction lands for energy development, the parcel has four stipulations attached to it. The lessee must report the discovery of any historical or archeological deposits found while developing the area. The area is also located within a known critical winter range for desert elk and is required to avoid activity on the parcel between Nov. 15 and April 30, though the lessee can seek approval from Hill for an alternative plan that would provide similar protections. Another provision requires the lessee to comply with conditions outlined in the state’s plans to protect sage-grouse core areas and follow guidelines designed to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species.

Hill said the oil and gas leases have a term of five years. Leases are generally held by production and continue as long as that production is in paying quantities. Hill also said the office does allow for suspended operations and an extension of lease for a maximum of 10 years, though Hill says those extensions are made on very limited terms.

“The extension of the primary term is only granted in limited circumstances so it is safe to generally say that the leases last five years and as long thereafter as there is production in paying quantities,” Hill said.

Pieper said he’s also concerned with several parcels located near the Alkali Draw area. Two of the parcels are located next to the Alkalai Draw WSA, while a third exists within it. Other parcels exist within lands inventoried by the Bureau of Land Management as either being Lands with Wilderness Characteristics and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.

Pieper said there is also concern about how the lease sales impact upcoming Rock Springs BLM Resource Management Plan, for which a record of decision is expected to be issued next year.

In a letter to the Sweetwater County commissioners delivered Tuesday morning, the Wyoming Outdoor Council notes the sale could impact the county.

“Inclusion and sale of these leases could preempt, and thus negate, the ability of Sweetwater County to make any future decisions regarding management within these areas,” the letter states.

The letter also mentions a potential land exchange between the BLM and state, which is currently being debated in the Wyoming Legislature’s Join Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee.

“We hope that his might serve as an opportunity to conserve these critical and iconic landscapes and provide state land development opportunities in more appropriate places, such as where infrastructure already exists and can make development more economical and attractive,” the letter states.

Commissioner Wally Johnson, who monitors public lands issues for the county, said while minerals provide 80 percent of the county’s economy, development should not occur everywhere.

“I feel very strongly there are some areas we got to protect,” Johnson said.

The county sent a letter to Hill’s office requesting a deferral for the parcel, citing Boar’s Tusk as a unique landmark within the county and both Pieper and Johnson believe more oil and gas development can occur in Sweetwater County.

“I’m not anti-oil and gas,” Pieper said. “I’m in favor of protecting the special places.”

Pieper said he supports development occurring near established gas fields in Sweetwater County, but questions parcels placed within known critical winter refuges and core sage grouse area, as well as parcels that exist miles away from established gas fields.

Johnson has been vocal in the past regarding the need to develop minerals within the county, but believes some areas do deserve protection -- a point he re-iterated Tuesday morning at the Sweetwater County Courthouse.

During the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Shaleas Harrison of the Wyoming Wilderness Association also stressed the importance of protecting Boar’s Tusk.

“I think it would be detrimental to that iconic feature if that parcel was developed,” she said.

She also expressed concern about Adobe Town being overlooked when it comes to conservation. Skull Creek Rim, which is not included in a WSA, contains a road leading to Adobe Town and is slated for leasing in an upcoming lease sale.

Harrison believes the area deserves protection and encouraged the county commissioners to speak in favor of protecting it.

“There’s a very unique ecology going on there that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Red Desert,” she said.

She said the area is home to pigmy rabbits and has been considered a sacred landscape for thousands of years.

“It’s an incredible wildland,” she said.

Johnson disagrees with the Adobe Town WSA growing in size from 10,000 acres to the more than 85,000 acres it currently contains, making it the largest WSA in Wyoming.

“The thing we all need to understand is ... the people in Sweetwater County are dependent on quality jobs,” Johnson said. “We got to protect those jobs those minerals provide.”

Johnson said after jobs, the next thing they need to consider are the places like the Red Desert, Little Mountain and Steamboat, where residents enjoy recreating. He admits the balance is hard to achieve.

“Everyone pushes a little differently ... but we can’t build a fence around the state of Wyoming,” he said.