Thanks in significant part to BCA's work, Shell WindEnergy has abandoned plans to build a major wind farm atop the Kinney Rim, a citizens' proposed wilderness area just west of Adobe Town in the Red Desert. BCA had met with Shell officials to voice concerns that the proposed project would destroy the wilderness character of the area and conflict with a state sage grouse Core Area that has been established along the northern half of the Kinney Rim. Shell subsequently abandoned the project. This victory for conservation illustrates how BCA's comprehensive report on wind energy, Wind Power in Wyoming: Doing it Smart from the Start, is working to shift wind power producers away from areas of high environmental conflict in the western part of the state and toward southeastern Wyoming, where wind power comes with fewer conflicts with wildlife and other sensitive resources.

The federal government is set to issue its ruling on whether to protect the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) later this week. Endangered species protection would give backbone to an otherwise limp state conservation strategy based on excluding wind energy but not oil and gas drilling from designated "Core Areas."  Protecting the sage grouse under the ESA would also go a long way toward reforming drilling in general, to the benefit of dozens of other kinds of sagebrush wildlife (such as the pygmy rabbit, burrowing owl, and ferruginous hawk), and save open spaces and recreation on public lands throughout sagebrush country to boot. Alternately, the agency could list the grouse as 'Warranted but Precluded,' meaning that it would be added to a watch list with very little in the way of environmental protections. Even worse, a 'Not Warranted' finding could be issued, denying any protection to the bird. Given the weight of dozens of scientific studies showing sage grouse declines and the new federal policy to base listing decisions on science rather than politics, BCA is hopeful that the sage grouse will get its due.

A new bill working its way through the Wyoming legislature would attempt to hamstring efforts to apply protections or enforce regulations for lands and wildlife by requiring analysis of the economic costs of environmental protection. Titled "Senate File 13," the bill would force an Economic Impact Analysis to weigh the costs to industry, but not consider the benefits to tourism or the retail trades, of stronger regulations to protect Wyoming wildlife, lands, clean air, and water. And the bill itself comes with a hefty pricetag. Experts believe that the two-year price tag of $378 million to do the analyses is far too low; the Environmental Quality Council estimated that the cost of doing this analysis for a single statewide regulation would be $150 million! Clearly, the agenda of the bill's sponsors is to throw up roadblocks to the responsible stewardship of Wyoming's natural resources. Wyoming residents, please contact your representative in the Wyoming House by clicking "locate your legislator" here, use the voter hotline, or call (307) 777-7771 to leave a message - tell them to vote 'No' on SF 13!

PIPELINE COST BLOWS MILLION OUT OF THE WATER -
COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD ESTIMATES FAR GREATER THAN MILLION'S

The startup costs of Aaron Million's proposed 560-mile long, ten-feet diameter water pipeline from Flaming Gorge to Colorado's Front Range were recently estimated by the Colorado Water Conservation Board to be $9.5 billion, two-and-a-half to three times Million's own estimate! The new estimate means that Coloradoans might end up paying for drinking or irrigation water as if it is Perrier. In response to the new estimate, Aaron Million is launching a public relations campaign that might package his pipeline as something extra-special, but Wyomingites and Coloradoans alike ought not be impressed by the  pretty packaging.
 
The Casper Star-Tribune Editorial Board is also not fooled. Read their editorial for details. A 2005 Wyoming Water Development Commission study also concluded that a transbasin diversion like Million's would mean higher pumping costs, for a total cost that would be "exorbitantly expensive."

This is all not to mention the fact that a Bureau of Reclamation study shows the water Million plans to pipe isn't there, or that the planned drain would further threaten four Endangered fish downstream - the bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, and razorback sucker.
 
Million will continue to package his project in glittering terms, but BCA will continue to fight this ill-conceived raid on Colorado River water, and the threats it imposes on native wildlife.

Photos by BCA.  Top: Colorado pikeminnow. Bottom: humpback chub.

BCA staff recently submitted our technical analysis on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Ruby Pipeline Project. This proposed natural gas pipeline would run from southwestern Wyoming through northern Utah and Nevada to south-central Oregon. The proposed route crosses hundreds of miles of sagebrush and many streams, and comes in close proximity to wilderness areas and other special places. BCA's comments focused on the adverse impacts expected on sensitive species such as the greater sage-grouse, the pygmy rabbit, and many others. Any loss or degradation of these species' habitats will accelerate their population declines.  BCA also pointed out that the impacts to streams could be avoided through use of more environmentally sensitive stream-crossing techniques that are technologically available and economically feasible. BCA awaits final decisions from the federal agencies involved, and hopes officials recognize and use the science available and necessary to mitigate the damage from this pipeline and its associated infrastructure.

JOANNA ORR MAKES THE DIFFERENCE - THANKS, JOANNA!

The family that volunteers together, stays together! From left to right, Brendon and Tara Orr, Amber Kassik and Joanna Orr. (Photo by Peg Arnold)

With 25 years experience, Library Specialist Joanna Orr organizes everything from bookshelves to citizens as a BCA volunteer. For example at the recent "Poker Run" outdoor winter festival in Centennial, Wyoming, Orr helped gather 366 petition signatures, and in the BCA office she has brought our extensive collection of literature into some semblance of order. An avid outdoorswoman, Orr's upbringing on a 12-acre, post-WWII homestead bordering the Medicine Bow National Forest inspired her passion for conservation. Orr's childhood memories include a milk cow, chickens, draft and saddle horses, a horse-drawn buggy and sleigh, organic gardens, a wind charger, and helping with family solar green houses. BCA owes its existence to the help of volunteers like Orr. On behalf of the staff, board, and members of BCA, thank you, Joanna! For more information about volunteer opportunities with BCA, please email Sarah Egolf, or call (307) 742-7978.

Remember to "Spring forward" and replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on March 14, when Daylight Savings Time begins.