December 20, 2006

Along the eastern edge of Wyoming's Red Desert, the Atlantic Rim rises in a broad scarp that holds some of the region's most important wildlife habitat. Birds of prey, elk, sage grouse, and prairie dogs all are abundant here, in an area that has seen little past development. It even holds a pocket of potential wilderness, where Wild Cow Creek and Deep Gulch have carved canyons and steep ridges in the sagebrush steppe. But now the BLM is planning to approve 2,000 coalbed methane and conventional gas wells in this sensitive landscape, with only token wildlife protections.

TELL THE BLM TO START TAKING THEIR STEWARDSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES SERIOUSLY.

The Atlantic Rim project has a projected well density of eight wells and more than three miles of road per square mile. This density of development will likely destroy the ability of the land to support sensitive native wildlife ranging from sage grouse to pronghorn, from hawks and eagles to prairie dogs.

The project has the same sage grouse measures that have been used on the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah Fields, where BLM-funded research predicts sage grouse to become locally extinct within 19 years. And the same big game winter range measures will be used here as on the Pinedale Mesa, where drilling has caused a 46% deer population decline. Clearly, the BLM needs to take a new approach with stronger, science-based protections for its major drilling projects.

TELL THE RAWLINS BLM TO SCALE BACK THIS PROJECT AND PROTECT SENSITIVE WILDLIFE HABITATS FROM DRILLING. 

The agency's Atlantic Rim plan has gone from bad to worse between the Draft and Final versions of the Environmental Impact Statement, which is available online at http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/rfodocs/atlantic_rim/index.htm.

TELL THE BLM TO:

• Protect mule deer and elk by moving the planned roads and wells away from crucial winter ranges;
• Protect sage grouse by buffering their traditional nesting and breeding sites by three miles where wells and roads can't be built;
• Protect the Wild Cow Creek proposed wilderness by adjusting the project boundary to exclude this wild and beautiful area;
• Reduce the overall density of facilities and roads by allowing no more than 4 wells per square mile; and
• Use phased development so that only a small fraction of the area can be industrialized at any one time.
  

This is our last chance prior to litigation to reform this project and prevent this ecological disaster. Tell the BLM to manage for multiple uses on the Atlantic Rim, not just CBM development.

SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE RAWLINS BLM ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 4 2007

at Atlantic_Rim_EIS_WYMail@blm.gov, or:

David Simons
Rawlins BLM
P.O. Box 2407
Rawlins, WY 82301

THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING WILDLIFE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS!