Tag Archives: Wyoming

Proposed Wyoming gas field would be one of the largest on the planet

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Posted on January 31st, 2013 by The Wyoming Outdoor Council

This image, taken from GoogleEarth, shows the heart of the Jonah Field, which, compared to this proposed project had roughly one-third the number of wells approved.

This GoogleEarth image shows the heart of the Jonah Field, which, compared to this proposed project had roughly one-third the number of wells approved. While the Jonah has more well pads relative to wells (on roughly 30,000 acres), the Continental Divide-Creston project will cover more than 1 million acres.

Let’s speak up before March 6 to help protect residents, workers, and the environment

By Bruce Pendery

The Bureau of Land Management is analyzing a mammoth, 9,000-well natural gas drilling project proposed in south-central Wyoming near Wamsutter.

Called the Continental Divide-Creston project, it would be one of the largest single natural gas field developments in the United States.

We are asking for your help to reduce the environmental impacts of this project as much as possible. Please send your comments to the BLM by March 6! (See below)

Our biggest concern—and what we are focusing on the most—is making sure this project is done right relative to air quality. This development needs to be conducted in such a way that residents and workers are safe and can breathe clean air, and that the air, land, and wildlife, stays healthy in the future.

This Proposed Project Will Be Bigger than Rhode Island

The BLM would allow BP America Production Company and other operators to drill up to 8,950 new wells. The project area would include 1.1 million acres—or more than 1,600 square miles—much of which would be in what’s known as the “railroad checkerboard.” And much of this proposed project would involve “infill” of existing natural gas fields where 4,400 wells have already been drilled.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council does not oppose development in this area outright because it is not located in one our “heritage landscapes” (iconic areas where we believe any energy development is inappropriate) and it is largely an “infill” project where there is already a lot of existing disturbance.

However, although much of this area is far from pristine, we need to do everything we can to ensure that companies “do it right” at every stage of this project’s development. Therefore, we believe the BLM should require careful, effective, environmentally protective measures as conditions to the development in order to protect residents, workers, air quality, and remaining wildlife habitats.

 

How to Make a Difference

The BLM has prepared a draft environmental analysis, called an “environmental impact statement” for this project. It considers five alternative development options but it does not specify a “preferred alternative.”

The BLM is now accepting comments on this draft analysis. The comment deadline is March 6. It would be very helpful if you could offer your input on the draft. This could help improve the project, and help ensure that we “do it right” in the face of this massive level of development.

Here are some issues you might consider raising in your comments:

  • While much of this project is in the “railroad checkerboard”—where the BLM’s ability to protect the environment is reduced because of the intervening privately owned sections of land—the project area extends into large, contiguous blocks of public land roughly 20 miles north and south of Interstate 80. You can ask the BLM to provide enhanced protection for these contiguous areas of public lands.
  • The Directional Drilling alternative is the most environmentally protective of the current alternatives, so please ask the BLM to adopt it. This alternative would be even more effective if the BLM were to set a limit on the number of well pads that can be developed.
  • Directional Drilling has become increasingly common and popular with industry with the horizontal “reach” of these wells becoming ever greater.Having multiple wells drilled from a single well pad with directional drilling to access gas resources at great distances can greatly reduce environmental impacts. You can ask the BLM to maximize the use of directional drilling, and to require the greatest “reach” possible.

 

Where to Send Comments:

You can submit your comments to the BLM by March 6 by e-mail:Continental_Divide_Creston_WYMail@blm.gov, or fax: 307-328-4224, or by regular mail: Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, WY 82301.

You can view the draft environmental impact statement here:http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/field_offices/Rawlins.html.

Cross-posted from: http://wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org/blog/2013/01/31/proposed-wyoming-gas-field-would-be-one-of-the-largest-on-the-planet/

Donate to haul Tibet, the wild mustang, to his safe place

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Tibet earned 2 Strikes from not getting picked at adoptions.

Tibet earned 2 Strikes from not getting picked at adoptions. (Photo by BLM adoptions)

As of tonight, January 29th we raised $400 from wild horse angels towards the total needed ($920) to bring Tibet out from Wheatland, Wyoming to us in the Bay Area. We need to raise $536 more (includes PayPal fees) by February 2, 2013. Please help and donate what you can to get Tibet to his safe place. Thank you for helping Tibet!

Please donate via PayPal to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or mail your donations to:

Protect Mustangs, PO Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705. Make checks payable to Protect Mustangs.

It takes a village ~ Please donate any amount so Tibet can afford to be hauled to his safe place.

 

Tibetan prayer flag depicting Windhorse

Tibetan prayer flag depicting Windhorse

Adopt a BLM wild horse to save it from an unknown fate

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Meet Ellie (#6457). She’s a gorgeous 4 yr old Palomino mare from the Calico Mts. She is at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno. (Photo courtesy BLM)

Taking action to find homes for at-risk wild horses

Protect Mustangs is working with members of the public to find homes for all the wild horses who were not adopted during the recent Bureau of Land Management (BLM) internet adoption. The unadopted are at risk of being sold to pro-slaughter people like Tom Davis.

“We are reaching out to the public through Facebook and Twitter to find adopters,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “People across the country are expressing interest in adopting these great horses. I don’t know why the BLM isn’t marketing the adoption program better.”

BLM’s three strike program

America’s living legends receive a strike against them every time they are offered for adoption. If they are offered on the internet and not adopted they get a strike and another internet adoption gives them another strike. If they are offered for adoption at an event and don’t find their person then they get their third strike . . . It’s a cruel system. After three strikes the federally protected wild horses can be sold to anyone who signs on the dotted line that they won’t sell them to slaughter or for use as rodeo stock. The BLM doesn’t check that the buyers are complying so it’s a free for all.

“If indigenous wild horses are not adopted then they will be shipped out to the Midwest where they are at-risk of being sold by the truckloads–even the one year olds,” states Novak. “With the recent E.U. crackdown on American horse meat, riddled with toxic substances, we are concerned wild horses face an increased risk of going to slaughter because they have never been given substances such as bute.”

Positive communication

Members of the public may email Contact@ProtectMustangs.org to enlist their help in communicating with BLM for a smooth adoption process as well as getting information on trainers and transportation.

Below are some wild horses available for adoption:

Meet Baby Red (#2484) a sorrel yearling gelding. His mother was captured during the Twin Peaks roundup and he was born at the BLM facility in California near Susanville. (Photo courtesy BLM)

 

Lily (#3361) is from the Fox Hog herd. They have some draft in their line and make wonderful pets/riding horses when you give them a lot of love. (Photo courtesy BLM)

Good News! This horse has an adopter waiting for him at the Ridgecrest facility. Sam (#3275) is from California’s High Rock area and appears to be from cavalry stock. He is handsome and might make a nice little jumper or sport horse.

 

Meet Stuart (#2600), a yearling gelding from High Rock in California (eastern Sierra). This internet auction could be his 3rd strike and put him “at risk”. He is located near Susanville, California. (Photo courtesy BLM)

 

Here is Merlot (#9380) a yearling red roan gelding from Green Mountain, Wyoming. He is located in Rock Springs, WY and can be shipped to various locations.

To learn about these horses and others in need of adoption, visit Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

From the BLM website:

Adoption Requirements

Applicant must be 18 years of age or older.

Applicant must have access to a stall/corral that meets the following criteria:
  • Stall, corral, etc. must contain a minimum of 400 square feet per animal
  • Stall, corral, etc. that is 6′ tall on all sides with access to feed, water and adequate shelter for anything 2 years or older. The stall/corral height is 5′ for a yearling and 4.5′ for a burro. (This area is only required until animal is gentled, not for the life of the animal.)
  • Stall, corral, etc. must be made of protrusion-free materials, (EX) Wood, Pipe, Cattle Panels. Barb wire is not allowed in the area that is being used for gentling the animal.
  • Covered stock trailer. Covered stock trailer refers to: solid top, pipe rails, tarp, etc. BLM will not load into two-horse or drop-ramp trailers.
Applicant must describe their stall/corral, etc. in the application packet and submit to BLM for approval.
  • Application – Describe the area where you will keep the animal(s) during the gentling phase. (Application is located in back of brochure.)

BLM experiments on wild horses with SpayVac®

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By U.S. Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Unedited Press Releasefrom the BLM   August 27, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have begun a five-year wild horse contraceptive study at the BLM’s short-term holding facility in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.  The pasture breeding study will test the effectiveness of two formulations of the investigational contraceptive vaccine SpayVac® to determine if the treatment can reduce foaling rates in wild horse mares.

The goal is to see if SpayVac®, a novel formulation of a glycoprotein called porcine zona pellucida (PZP), will provide a longer-term effect than other PZP vaccines currently used by the BLM.  If the vaccine is found to reduce foaling in this controlled setting, it will be considered for use with free-roaming horses to help control population growth rates on the range.

As the primary agency responsible for management of wild horses on U.S. public lands, the BLM has a need for a long-lasting contraceptive agent to control herd growth rates. Given the protection afforded by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and a general lack of natural predators, wild horse populations increase at an average rate of 20 percent a year and can quickly exceed the carrying capacity of their ranges.

The BLM, as part of its development of a new wild horse and burro management strategy, has been stepping up its efforts to reduce population growth rates in wild horse herds using contraceptive agents. A main limitation of the agents currently available is that they are of relatively short duration or need to be administered annually. Maximizing the duration of contraceptive effectiveness is especially important in wild horses, which in most cases must be captured in order for the treatment to be successfully administered.

In the BLM-USGS study, 90 mares have been treated with either one of two formulations of the vaccine or a placebo.  The mares will be followed for five years to measure anti-PZP antibody levels and compare the foaling rates between treated horses and controls.  Although breeding is not usually allowed to occur in BLM facilities, a clinical trial in this controlled environment will provide critical information on how well SpayVac® works as a contraceptive.

The mares and stallions enrolled in the study were selected from horses already in BLM holding facilities.  They are being housed in three 30-acre pastures and will be together during the next five breeding seasons.  Foals that are born during the study will be offered for adoption each fall after they have been weaned. At the conclusion of the study, all adult horses will be returned to the BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse Program or placed in long-term pasture facilities.

The BLM has an interagency agreement with the USGS for research and scientific support, and this study is a collaborative effort with scientists from the USGS, veterinarians with the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and TerraMar Environmental Research LLC.

Contacts: Paul McGuire , 405-794-9624
Heather Emmons , 775-861-6594
Tom Gorey , 202-912-7420
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Send comments against roundup and SpayVac® for Wyoming wild horses

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Release Date: 07/06/12
Contacts: Sarah Beckwith
307-347-5207

BLM Releases Preliminary EA for North Lander Complex Wild Horse Gather
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lander Field Office announces that a preliminary environmental assessment (EA) analyzing a proposed wild horse gather in the North Lander Wild Horse Herd Management Area Complex is now available for review.The North Lander Complex is located east of Riverton within Fremont County, Wyo. The proposed gather is expected to take place in fall, 2012.The preliminary EA analyzes four alternatives and is available by visiting the BLM website at: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/lfo/N-Lander-gather.html.The 30 day comment period runs from July 9 through August 7, 2012. Comments may be emailed to: BLM_WY_North_Lander_Gather@blm.gov(please include “North Lander Gather EA Comments” in the subject line). Comments may also be mailed to BLM Lander Field Office, Attn: Scott Fluer, 1335 Main Street, Lander, WY, 82520.For more information, visit: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/lfo/N-Lander-gather.html, or contact BLM Wild Horse Specialist Scott Fluer at 307-332-8400.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
–BLM–Lander Field Office   1335 Main Street      Lander, WY 82520
Last updated: 07-06-2012

Livestock’s Heavy Hooves Impair One-Third of BLM Rangelands

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33 Million Acres of BLM Grazing Allotments Fail Basic Rangeland Health Standards

WASHINGTON – May 14 – A new federal assessment of rangelands in the West finds a disturbingly large portion fails to meet range health standards principally due to commercial livestock operations, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  In the last decade as more land has been assessed, estimates of damaged lands have doubled in the 13-state Western area where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts major livestock leasing.

The “Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report for Fiscal Year 2011” covers BLM allotments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  The report totals BLM acreage failing to meet rangeland health standards in measures such as water quality, watershed functionality and wildlife habitat:

  • Almost 40% of BLM allotments surveyed since 1998 have failed to meet the agency’s own required land health standards with impairment of more than 33 million acres, an area exceeding the State of Alabama in size, attributed to livestock grazing;
  • Overall, 30% of BLM’s allotment area surveyed to date suffers from significant livestock-induced damage, suggesting that once the remaining allotments have been surveyed, the total impaired area could well be larger than the entire State of Washington; and
  • While factors such as drought, fire, invasion by non-native plants, and sprawl are important, livestock grazing is identified by BLM experts as the primary cause (nearly 80%) of BLM lands not meeting health standards.

“Livestock’s huge toll inflicted on our public lands is a hidden subsidy which industry is never asked to repay,” stated PEER Advocacy Director Kirsten Stade, noting that the percentage of impairment in lands assessed remains fairly consistent over the past decade.  “The more we learn about actual conditions, the longer is the ecological casualty list.”

Last November, PEER filed a scientific integrity complaint that BLM had directed scientists to exclude livestock grazing as a factor in changing landscapes as part of a $40 million study, the biggest such effort ever undertaken by BLM.  The complaint was referred to a newly appointed Scientific Integrity Officer for BLM but there are no reports of progress in the agency’s self-investigation in the ensuing months.

At the same time, BLM range evaluations, such as this latest one, use ambiguous categories that mask actual conditions, employing vague terms such as “making significant progress” and “appropriate action has been taken to ensure significant progress” that obscure damage estimates and inflate the perception of restoration progress.  For example, in 2001 nearly 60% of BLM lands (94 million acres, an area larger than Montana) consisted of grazing allotments that were supposed to be managed to “improve the current resource condition” – a number that has stayed unchanged for a decade.

“Commercial livestock operations are clearly a major force driving degradation of wild places, jeopardy to wildlife, major loss of water quality and growing desertification throughout the American West,” Stade added, while noting that BLM has historically been dominated by livestock interests.  “The BLM can no longer remain in denial on the declining health of our vast open range.”

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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER’s environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Links:
Posted from the PEER press release

Non-Profit Mission

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Youngster Lost Family (Photo ©Anne Novak)

We are very grateful to work for America’s wild horses in this time of crisis. We advocate for mustangs, fundraise for projects that will help them and keep the public informed through media and community outreach.

Pictured above is a California wild horse yearling who lost his family and freedom. 

Wyoming Wild Horse Slideshow

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An awful roundup is about to start that will wipe out most of the beautiful wild horses roaming freely in southern Wyoming.

I want to welcome Kerry Becklund on board. She and I put together a little slideshow to get the word out about what’s going on with our tax dollars. Please share this with your friends.

We are fundraising to make some more of these because even though we donated our time and graciously had the photography donated we still had to pay for the music licensing. Thanks in advance for your help to get the word out.

BLM Cancels Wyoming Castration Plan

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Thanks to Mr. Cohen who is following the story. He writes about Wyoming wild horses no longer facing castration in The Atlantic article Whoa There: BLM Cancels Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup Plan Luckily due to massive public outcry–the BLM got the message: Don’t snip the studs.