"If oil and gas development continues at the pace it has recently in Sublette County, our home will look significantly different in 5 to 10 years. Some local kid, who decides to move home after college, is going to take a look around at all the destruction and ask, 'Who let this
happen?'" - Pinedale Roundup Editorial (October 2, 2003)
Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley has historically enjoyed some of the finest air in the United States thanks to its isolation from industrial development and large cities. With the rapid, widespread development of energy resources, however, the Valley’s air has noticeably declined.
More than 3,100 gas wells have been drilled in recent years, and 8,000 to 10,000 more are considered over the next decade or two. Each new well brings roads, traffic, pipelines, compressors and dehydrators, all of which pollute the air during the entire production life of the well. Industry’s use of best emission control practices is largely voluntary, air-quality monitoring is piecemeal and un-coordinated, and agencies look to each other for leadership.
The potential for this boom to further degrade an invaluable natural asset is huge. Airborne pollution not only obscures our vistas and may put our health at risk, but prevailing winds may transport nitrous oxides and other industrial pollutants over the Bridger Wilderness where it can contribute to the documented acidification of alpine streams and lakes and harm prized fisheries. To address the damage industry is doing to our air, the Coalition insists responsible agencies work together and adopt key measures. Monitoring must be more thorough and coordinated and regulations must be tightened. Steps industry can take to reduce its impact on air include: installing equipment to capture gases that are otherwise vented or flared; clustering development; bussing rig crews to drill sites; using pipelines to transport condensate and water; and drilling with low-emission rigs.
The Jonah: An emissions time bomb
The Jonah Gas Field, located 20 miles south of Pinedale, is where the current Upper Green gas boom began in the late 1990s. Deep under the Jonah lies trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. This resource was made economically accessible through a technology called hydraulic fracturing (or "frac'ing" in industry parlance). To release the gas trapped in deep "tight sands" formations, water, chemicals and particles are injected under intense pressure into the earth, breaking up the rock and propping open the fissures. The aggressive development of the Jonah has resulted in emissions of nitrous oxides six to eight times those predicted when the field was authorized, according to an April 2005 report by government scientists.
Industry drilled the 500 wells originally authorized well ahead of schedule and BLM has proposed allowing up to 3,100 additional wells even though it has yet to honestly analyze its impacts on air quality. Such a development scenario will turn the 30,500-acre gas field into an industrial sacrifice zone and may set a troubling precedent for the Valley's other gas fields, which happen to overlie areas rich in cultural and natural values.
The Jonah Gas Field, located 20 miles south of Pinedale, is where the current Upper Green gas boom began in the late 1990s. Deep under the Jonah lies trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. This resource was made economically accessible through a technology called hydraulic fracturing (or "frac'ing" in industry parlance). To release the gas trapped in deep "tight sands" formations, water, chemicals and particles are injected under intense pressure into the earth, breaking up the rock and propping open the fissures. The aggressive development of the Jonah has resulted in emissions of nitrous oxides six to eight times those predicted when the field was authorized, according to an April 2005 report by government scientists.
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