The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pinedale Field Office (PFO) is seeking public comment on the proposed Anticline Electrification Phase I project!  Scoping comments due February 6, 2012.

This project is currently  being "scoped" by the BLM (i.e. BLM is asking for all relevant information and concerns that will then be analyzed in a simple Environmental Assessment, rather than a more extensive Environmental Impact Statement.

The proposed power lines would provide electrical power to eight oil and gas facilities owned by Shell, Ultra, Plains and Newfield, but are proposed to cross important and relatively intact areas, potentially impacting huge swaths of sage-grouse nesting and other wildlife habitats.

• The BLM may require that power lines be buried.  In fact, BLM awarded Anadarko the 2006 Best Management Practices award for "Distinguished Integration of Environmental Best Management Practices" for burying 25 square miles of power lines in their development areas near Gillette, Wyoming, to reduce conflicts with other important resource values such as raptors, sage-grouse, and visual resources.
• Miles and miles of transmission lines are expected to be proposed in the next gas field as well, the Normally Pressured Lance field proposed by Encana on 141,000 acres.
• Underground solutions for electricity transmission are cheaper than previously thought.  Underground lines are ~4.5-5.7 times more expensive than traditional overhead lines, but far less than 10-20 times the cost that some planners had thought.
• Stringing electrical lines across relatively intact wildlife habitats would set a negative precedent for the entire Upper Green River Basin, potentially impacting migratory corridors for birds, pronghorn, mule deer, and bats, and important winter ranges.
• Power poles are deterrents to sage-grouse for miles around, since they provide predator perches and a visual threat.
• Power lines across this area have the potential to impact airplanes taking off and landing at the Pinedale Airport.
• Underground facilities are not as susceptible to wind, ice damage, and lightning strikes, and interruptions are less frequent.  They may even save money in the long run.
• Overhead power lines will seriously mar the visual esthetics of the desert landscape.  They are about as ugly, industrialized and intrusive as a landscape can get.

Mail or deliver written comments by Monday, Feb. 6 to the PFO, 1625 W. Pine, P.O. Box 768, Pinedale, WY 82941; or fax to 307-367-5329; or email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with “Electrification Phase I” in the subject line.