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| Upper Green Valley Coalition News Releases |
Sublette County teeters on threshold of new EPA ozone standard:
BLM’s Pinedale drilling plan would push it over
2008-03-11 Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strengthened national ozone pollution standards to protect human health and pushed Wyoming’s rural Sublette County very close to crossing over the new limit. ... more>
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Wyoming issues historic human health warning to residents of Pinedale
2008-02-27 Deteriorating air quality from oil and gas development in Wyoming’s
Upper Green River Valley prompted the first-ever ozone-related human health warning from the
state Department of Environmental Quality to a region once renowned for its clean air. ... more>
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Governor urges balance on public lands near Pinedale
2007-06-18 As a result of the intense pace of oil and gas development in the Pinedale area, the BLM should work to provide balance for other uses of public lands in order to preserve a “functional landscape” which includes open space, said Gov. Dave Freudenthal in comments submitted on the Pinedale RMP revision.
Now is the time to evaluate the long-term land management of the area and consider the cumulative impacts of existing and proposed uses of public lands, Freudenthal wrote. In addition to ensuring that the document supports multiple uses, Freudenthal said the BLM should seek to protect areas that have not yet been leased. (100K)
... more>
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BLM Must “Go Back to the Drawing Board” and
Fix Pinedale Anticline Plan to Better Protect Air, Wildlife
2007-04-06 A diverse array of Upper Green River Valley residents, wildlife experts, conservation groups, and others today urged the Bureau of Land Management to prepare a final plan for drilling in the Pinedale Anticline that better protects air quality and wildlife from the proposed massive escalation in energy development. (50K) ... more>
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Gov. Freudenthal challenges BLM and industry to balance development and and conservation on the Pinedale Anticline
2007-04-06 Acknowledging the federal government’s push to rapidly develop energy resources in Wyoming, Governor Dave Freudenthal challenged the Bureau of Land Management and industry to strike a balance between development and conservation in the Pinedale area. ... more>
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Draft plan revision would dramatically increase Upper Green drilling
2007-02-22 The Bush Administration released a draft resourcement management plan for Wyoming's Upper Green River Valley, envisioning a "preferred alternative" that would result in 7,000 more natural gas wells and open large swaths of wildlife habitat to development. (20K) ... more>
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Upper Green parcels withdrawn from Dec. 5 Lease Sale
2006-12-06 At the last minute, the BLM withdrew two parcels originally offered for sale in its Dec. 5 lease auction after protests from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department raised concerns about impacts to big game migration and sage grouse. Conservation groups and local landowners had also protested these parcels--as well as three others in Pinedale Field Office resource area.(15K) ... more>
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Double the Pollution
2006-10-09 The proposed Jonah Infill project, which will add 3,100 new wells in the Upper Green River Valley, would violate the Clean Air Act by releasing nearly double the amount of the maximum daily limit for particulate matter, local Wyoming citizens noted. Particulate matter, which is a mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets, causes serious health problems including asthma and premature death for people with heart and lung disease. (20K) ... more>
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Upper Green Residents to BLM: Jonah Infill Decision Fails to Protect Air Quality
2006-04-13 Residents from the Upper Green River Valley today said that growing concerns about local air quality had caused them to urge the Bureau of Land Management to reconsider the agency’s decision to allow more than 3,000 additional wells to be drilled in the Jonah Field. (20K) ... more>
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Sportsmen and Conservationists Say: "Enough"
2005-12-12 Despite ongoing scientific studies that show significant declines in mule deer and sage grouse numbers on the Pinedale Anticline, the BLM approved an additional year-round natural gas drilling project without accepting public comment. This project harms crucial wildlife habitat, ignores the comments of Wyoming Game and Fish, and shuts out the public from the decision making process – while doing very little to increase gas production. (42K) ... more>
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Industry-funded scientific study shows drilling displacing mule deer in Wyoming's Upper Green River Valley.
2005-10-06 More evidence is gathering that oil and gas development in Wyoming’s sage-covered winter range is displacing the state’s legendary big game herds and undermining their abundance. The latest installment in a multi-year study of the Upper Green River Valley’s mule deer suggests a 46 percent decline of the herd wintering on the Mesa portion of the Pinedale Anticline, where rapid development is occurring.(38K) ... more>
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Seeing Through the Haze: Protecting Wyoming's air
2005-10-04 The Pinedale Bureau of Land Management has officially conceded oil and gas activity in the Upper Green River Valley will significantly affect air quality as far away as Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. This week, conservation groups and concerned citizens submitted comments calling the agency to task for allowing the degradation to occur and urging the BLM to impose measures to curb the haze. (18K) ... more>
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Study:Energy Development in Western Wyoming Fragments Habitat, Harms Wildlife
2005-02-28 A study released by The Wilderness Society shows that profitable gas extraction and healthy wildlife populations can co-exist in the Upper Green River Valley, but only if the federal government adopts measures to close and reclaim unnecessary roads and minimize the impacts of remaining roads. (34KB) ... more>
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The Jonah Project: The Tale of the Whale
2005-02-17 Newly released Jonah Infill draft EIS calls for more wells and more polution, importance grows for 'Doing it Right.' ... more>
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Study shows wintering mule deer avoid areas with natural gas development
2004-11-29 An industry-funded scientific study, examining the long-range effects of industrial activity on the Pinedale Anticline, is showing that energy development may displace wildlife from preferred winter range. (41 KB) ... more>
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"Doing It Right" in the Upper Green River Valley
2004-07-15 Seeking to protect Wyoming's valuable rural heritage, local residents and conservation groups released a common-sense plan to guide energy development in the Upper Green. (37 KB) ... more>
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Wyoming DEQ petitioned to regulate gas well flaring
2004-03-24 The Wyoming Outdoor Council filed a petition with state environmental regulators seeking rules to control gasfield emissions in Sublette County. ... more>
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BLM Fails To Follow Its Own Rules For Wildlife Protections
2003-03-13 Pinedale, Wyoming -- Four conservation groups today challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision to allow winter-long drilling in crucial winter habitat in the Upper Green River Valley near Pinedale, Wyoming ... more>
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Bush Administration Report Shows Most Federal Oil and Gas is Available for Development in the Rocky Mountain West
2003-01-25 Despite industry and earlier Bush Administration claims that too much federal land in the Rocky Mountain West was unavailable for energy development, a new report issued by the Bush Administration indicates that the opposite is true ... more>
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Oil and Natural Gas Estimates in Wyoming Greatly Exaggerated by Administration
2002-10-29 Pinedale, WY – Two scientific studies released today raise strong doubts about the underlying assumptions of the Bush Administration’s energy policy for Western states ... more>
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The Oil and Gas Industry Has Ready Access to BLM Lands
2002-10-01 Despite oil and gas industry arguments to the contrary, the vast majority of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – about 95 percent – in the “overthrust belt” states of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are available for oil and gas leasing and development ... more>
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Oil and Gas Leasing Threatens
Key Wildlife Corridors in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
2002-06-04 Pinedale, Wyoming — A coalition of conservation groups yesterday filed a protest challenging the sale of oil and gas leases in critical wildlife corridors in the basin country of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) ... more>
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Senate Amendments Could Threaten Cherished Wild Lands in MT, WY, and ND
2002-03-07 Bozeman, MT - Seven cherished wild lands across the northern Rockies - including Montana's Mountain Front and the Red Desert in Wyoming - are threatened by "drill everywhere" legislative provisions ... more>
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Energy Department Study Faulty, Misleading, and Biased
2001-06-06 Washington DC - A Department of Energy study released today regarding the Greater Green River Basin of Wyoming and Colorado is biased, misleading, and an unfortunate disservice to policymakers who need facts upon which to base decisions about our nation’s energy policies, according to The Wilderness Society ... more>
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Montana and Wyoming Wildlands Put At Threat By Bush Energy Plan
2001-05-17 Bozeman, MT - One of the biggest threats to treasured wildlands in Montana and Wyoming emerged today with the release of the Bush plan to open more public lands to oil and gas drilling ... more>
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