Sweetwater County Commissioners: Protect Adobe Town

For Immediate Release

November 21, 2006

GREEN RIVER – The Sweetwater County Commission voted unanimously today to approve a resolution that the Red Desert’s spectacular Adobe Town area should be placed off-limits to future oil and gas leasing, and should instead be managed primarily for public recreation and wildlife.

"You can’t go too many places in our county right now without seeing some sort of a road, or a pipeline, or a compressor station,” remarked John Palleson, Chair of the Sweetwater County Commission. “I would like to see us take a look at this jewel in Adobe Town and say, ‘Listen, we can extract, and extract, and extract, but when you get into places like this, you are destroying something that you will never be able to reclaim. You will never be able to reclaim the viewsheds in this area and you will never be able to reclaim the wildlife habitat.’”

“We’re delighted that the local governments in the Red Desert are taking an active role in calling for the protection of the special places in their back yards,” said Sarah Egolf of Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.

According to the resolution, “Adobe Town is one of Sweetwater County’s natural treasures, a landscape that is of great importance to local residents;” it calls the area a “geological masterpiece” that should be left “as a gift to future generations in its current spectacular and unspoiled state.”

The Commissioners recognized the need to develop oil and gas resources sustainably, stating “Oil and gas development is an important part of the economy of Sweetwater County. But our abundant mineral resources need to be developed in a responsible way, with respect for the land and sensitivity to the needs of wildlife. This means not only the use of the best available methods to reduce impacts to lands and wildlife during development, but also setting aside lands where the highest and best use is maintaining them in a natural state for the enjoyment of the public.”

“The people we represent live in Wyoming for a reason,” said Monte Morlock of the steelworkers’ union. “They like it here. They enjoy the outdoors, and they want a lot of it protected.”

“I’ve lived in Wyoming my whole life,” added Mike Burd, a representative of the steelworkers’ union. “My kids and my grandkids live in Wyoming too. There are places in this state that we need to leave alone, that they can enjoy just like I got to enjoy, like my kids got to enjoy when they were growing up, and hopefully like my grandchildren will get to enjoy also.”

Joyce Corcoran, a representative of the Wyoming Association of Churches, described a recent visit to Adobe Town. “It was one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” she said. “I was totally awestruck.”

The resolution states that all 180,910 acres of Adobe Town “should be withdrawn from all future oil and gas leasing and surface mining, so that current mineral interests in the area can be allowed to sunset if they are not developed during the current lease term,” and that “current oil and gas leases within Adobe Town should be developed in a way that minimizes intrusions on the land and wildlife.”

“Now the BLM needs to listen to Sweetwater County, and to the 85,000 American citizens who also called for protecting Adobe Town through the Great Divide plan revision, and put this spectacular landscape off-limits to future oil and gas leasing so future generations can enjoy the same breathtaking landscapes and abundant wildlife that are found there today,” Egolf concluded.

An mp3 of the resolution available upon request.