Energy development should be done responsibly and in a way that respects our outdoor heritage. We are concerned that this is not happening in Wyoming's Red Desert.

Adobe Town, Wyoming; Friends of the Red Desert

The Bureau of Land Management recently released its proposed revisions to the Rawlins (commonly known as the Great Divide) land-use plan. The plan covers 4.6 million acres of public land and minerals in Wyoming's Red Desert. The BLM proposes opening 98% of the area -- all but 108,790 acres -- to oil and gas development. 

In addition, the proposed plan:

• Increases the number of new oil and gas wells from 1,400 in the 1990 plan to 8,822 and permits over 3,100 miles of new roads to service these wells.
• Permits full-scale development activities on sage-grouse breeding areas and crucial winter range for elk, mule deer and pronghorn.
• Relies on outdated science for projecting impacts on big game. While big game migration routes will be changed and possibly eliminated altogether, results from recent research on mule deer in the region was not considered.
• Despite the potential listing of the sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act, the plan relies on the very same measures used in gas fields elsewhere in Wyoming to conserve this species. Sage-grouse populations there continue to decline. Important new research regarding drilling impacts was not considered in this plan.
• Protects only 40,000 acres of Adobe Town inside the current Wilderness Study Area, leaving more than half of Adobe Town open to oil and gas development despite the fact that the state has designated Adobe Town a ‘Very Rare or Uncommon’ landscape. 
• Fails to address oil and gas leasing issues in the lands surrounding the towns of Encampment and Saratoga.
• Would result in long-term reduction of recreation use in many areas.

The proposed plan does have some positive components. It provides strong protection to the proposed Wild Cow Creek and Pedro Mountains wilderness areas, protects the Shirley Mountains proposed Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), and establishes a new ACEC in the Ferris Dunes.

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Read a related article from the Casper Star Tribune