BCA recently filed a formal protest against oil and gas leases set to be sold by the Wyoming BLM on August 5, 2008. This lease sale heavily targets sage grouse breeding and nesting habitats, with over 30,000 acres of leases falling in these habitats. Despite the BLM's recent admission that its standard sage grouse protections are not working in the Powder River Basin, the agency is offering the lease parcels with the standard do-nothing timing limitations, rather than requiring measures such as No Surface Occupancy that offer real protection to sage grouse.

In addition, the Little Mountain area east of Flaming Gorge factors heavily in this month's lease sale, with over 6,000 acres of leases to be offered. Please send a quick email to Governor Freudenthal at governor@state.wy.us urging him to publicly demand that the Little Mountain parcels and sage grouse parcels be withdrawn from the lease sale.

 

BCA BROKERS WILDLIFE CONCESSIONS IN MED BOW

The original Forest-wide Hazard Tree Removal and Fuels Reduction Project proposed a 300-foot wide corridor of trees to be cut along all of your favorite roads and trails throughout the Medicine Bow National Forest. BCA and coalition partner Colorado Wild negotiated with the Forest Service to limit the corridor width saving thousands of acres of trees from logging.

In addition, the Forest Service agreed prioritize cutting dead and dying trees in the highest use motorized recreation areas, campgrounds, picnic grounds, trailheads, and administrative sites, rather than along trails. This means large swaths of pristine backcountry won't be fragmented. Furthermore, our negotiations helped assure that no logging will go forward without first evaluating potential threats to Canada lynx, American marten, Northern goshawk, and other sensitive wildlife. Finally and perhaps most importantly, tree felling will be most limited in areas with roadless and/or wilderness character as well as officially designated Roadless and Wilderness.

Many thanks go to Rocky Smith of Colorado Wild, BCA members for writing to the Forest Service, and to Mary Peterson, Medicine Bow-Routt Forest Supervisor. Peterson has indicated that her final Hazard Tree Project Decision will be issued soon. These negotiations may have met with less success without your voice. If you’d like to thank Mary Peterson for her good-faith efforts to address wildlife concerns in this process, please call 307-745-2300.

 

1,000 WIND TOWERS PROPOSED S. OF RAWLINS

A former gas drilling baron has proposed two major new wind power projects on the checkerboard lands south of Rawlins. The project will cover almost 100,000 acres, and when completed will generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity, or as much as three typical coal-fired power plants. While plants like these provide power without impacts to global warming, parts of this project will be sited in sage grouse breeding and nesting habitat and mule deer crucial winter range.

Because the habitat fragmentation effects of wind development are similar to those for oil and gas, this could result in significant wildlife impacts. A portion of the project area also cross the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and other parts are sited not far from the Overland Historic Trail. Wind power is far superior to dirty fossil fuels from and environmental standpoint, but it's vital to make sure that they're designed appropriately to minimize their impacts on lands and wildlife. The BLM is holding scoping meetings for this project as follows:  

August 16 - Platte Valley Community Center, Saratoga, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

August 16 - Carbon County Higher Ed Center, Rawlins, 3 - 6 pm

August 18 - Carbon County Higher Ed Center, Rawlins, 5 - 8 pm

August 19 - Little Snake River Valley Ed Center, Baggs, 5 - 8 pm 

Comments will also be taken by email through September 8, 2008; send comments to WYMail_PCW_Windfarm@blm.gov.

 

SPEAK OUT ON ELK MTN COAL-TO-LIQUIDS PLANT

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently reviewing a permit to construct a coal-to-liquids fuel refinery near Elk Mountain, and they are calling for public comments. The plant will convert coal to gasoline, and by-products will include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (which cause acid rain), cancer-causing volatile organic compounds and mercury, and carbon dioxide (a primary cause of global climate change). The DEQ is taking public comments at a meeting this coming Monday, August 4, 2008 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Senior Center in Medicine Bow, at 520 Utah Street. Show up and speak to have the greatest impact. Or, you can mail or fax your comments to the DEQ (They must be received before 6 p.m. on Monday, August 4, 2008 to be considered!) care of:

David A. Finley
Administrator, Division of Air Quality
Department of Environmental Quality
122 W. 25th St., Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002
Via FAX (recommended) (307) 777-5616
Please reference Permit AP-5873 in your comment letter

If you have concerns, outline them in a brief letter. Some considerations:

- The air pollution from this plant could degrade air quality in such Medicine Bow roadless areas as Pennock Mountain, Snowy Range, and the Rock Creek proposed wilderness.

- DEQ should require complete carbon capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide and the Best Available Control Technologies to capture other pollutants. The plant is expected to produce over 4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, more per gallon of gas even than conventional oil refineries, according to Wyoming Outdoor Council.

- Strong limits are needed for emissions of mercury and other pollutants. Dangerous levels of mercury already exist in fish in Seminoe and Pathfinder Reservoirs, and the coal-to-liquids plant could worsen the situation.

- DEQ should require an analysis of the the cumulative air pollution of this plant together with other major sources of air pollution in the region, including oil refineries, coal-fired power plants, and oil, gas, and coalbed methane fields. Exceedances of Clean Air Act limits should not be allowed.

Medicine Bow Fuel & Power (a subsidiary of DRKW Advanced Fuels) has applied to the Wyoming DEQ for an air quality permit for a proposed coal-to-liquids plant near Medicine Bow. The plant will use coal-to-liquids conversion technology to produce 18,500 barrels per day of gasoline and 42 tons per day of sulfur. In the process, the plant will also produce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and other air pollutants.

 

CHANGE THE DATE - BCA BADGER BALL SEP. 27, 2008

You’re invited to celebrate BCA's Twentieth Anniversary at the BCA Badger Ball and Annual Meeting. The Badger Ball will be held at the Laramie Train Depot at the intersection of 1st and Kearney Streets, on September 27, 2008. The cost is $25 per plate for current members and their families, and $25 per plate plus a $35 household membership for non-members. Kids eat free! Issue workshops will begin at 3:30pm, cocktail hour at 5, and dinner at 6:30pm. Enjoy lively discussion, great food, a silent auction and keynote speaker Nobel peace laureate Gabor Vali, speaking on global climate change. RSVP is requested by September 13, 2008. Contact Carmi McLean at carmi@voiceforthewild.org or 307-742-7978 for more information.

 

JOIN BCA ON FACEBOOK!

BCA now has a presence on internet social networking site Facebook (http://apps.facebook.com/causes/56109). We have posted a YouTube video about the Adobe Town area of the Red Desert, already eighty Facebook members have joined the cause, and you can now write on our "wall" for further discussion of whatever issue catches your interest. If you are already a member of Facebook, come join the cause! If you have never used Facebook before, it is fun and free. Just register at http://www.facebook.com.