For Immediate Release
January 27, 2006

Contact Information

LARAMIE –  The Bureau of Land Management announced in a letter this week that the last oil and gas lease in the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area has expired. The Wilderness Study Area was established in the 1980s. When the BLM set aside these lands as a Wilderness Study Area, they were withdrawn from future oil and gas development, but the previously existing leases were grandfathered in and allowed to be developed. One well, the Koch Exploration Adobe Town #1, was drilled within the WSA after it was established, on a previously existing lease. It failed to produce significant quantities of gas.

“We are delighted that the last lease in the Wilderness Study Area has gone away,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “The sunset of oil and gas activities within the Wilderness Study Area shows that even in areas that have a number of pre-existing leases, you can protect wilderness qualities and return the land to a natural state if you halt future leasing and allow the existing leases to run their course.”

The Adobe Town #1 well was ultimately purchased by EnCana, and had been holding its lease indefinitely by production, as well as other leases within Adobe Town connected through a unitization agreement. Because production from the well had been halted for a number of years, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance submitted an information request on the gas production of this well in September of 2001. Following this request, the BLM took the initiative and gave EnCana a 60-day notice to either resume gas production from the well or abandon it. The company complied with this directive, plugging and abandoning the well in November of 2002. Because the lease had been holding an entire oil and gas unit within the Wilderness Study Area by production, it took several years after abandonment for the lease and its unit to expire.

The Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area represents a little less than half of the wilderness-quality lands at Adobe Town, and while there are no more lease in the Wilderness Study Area, many of the unprotected pristine lands have been leased for oil and gas exploration. The BLM is currently considering the withdrawal of about 40,000 acres of these additional wilderness-quality lands from future leasing through the revision of its Great Divide Resource Management Plan.

“This is a great example of the system actually working,” said Liz Howell of the Wyoming Wilderness Association. “Oil and gas leases are meant to expire if not developed in our pristine landscapes like Adobe Town. The lawmakers before us had the long-range vision to withdraw from future leasing so that the wilderness qualities found there today will be there for future generations to enjoy.”

Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, (307) 742-7978
Liz Howell, Director, Wyoming Wilderness Association, (307) 672-2751