Plans are in place to approve more than 126,000 new gas and oil wells on public lands in Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana over the next two decades, which is nearly double the current total number of producing wells on public lands throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Wyoming leads the way with 58,209 planned new wells more than double any other northern Rocky state.

The new well figures are from an analysis by The Wilderness Society conducted in August of this year, and updates an October 2006 study that then found that 118,000 wells were planned.

Drilling in the Rockies already is booming with 77,000 wells are currently producing on public lands. Because the average well impacts approximately 10 acres, a future drilling boom of 126,000 wells could mar more than 1 million Western acres, fragmenting wildlife habitat and polluting air and water.

The Wilderness Society figures are from a review of pending and current federal actions authorizing drilling of new wells, which was conducted to gauge the magnitude of drilling being approved, and likely underestimates the magnitude of drilling activities that could occur on public lands in the region.

Background:

The vast majority of publicly-owned oil and gas resources in the Rocky Mountains are already available for leasing and development. In fact, a 2003 BLM report indicates that 85 percent of the oil and 88 percent of the gas on federal lands in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, and Utah are available for development. Today, approximately 36 million acres of onshore public lands are under lease for oil and gas development. Now there is a growing concern among residents, some western governors, hunters, anglers, ranchers, and others that unchecked oil and gas drilling will damage special natural places.

Federal agencies have been overwhelmed by the pace of drilling and it’s unclear how they could adequately protect public health, wildlife, air and water quality as drilling further expands. A 2005 report from the Government Accountability Office, for example, notes that the Bureau of Land Management’s increased oil and gas permitting activity “has lessened BLM's ability to meet its environmental protection responsibilities.”

In Wyoming, the BLM itself has documented its failure to uphold many of the mitigation and monitoring commitments it made in past oil and gas decisions in the Upper Green River Valley – from tracking gas field nitrous oxide emissions to a commitment to “maintain or improve currently active big game migration routes.”

Read the entire report, including individual state statistics, from The Wilderness Society.

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