For Immediate Release

May 23, 2007

Sportsmen, Conservationists Agree: Atlantic Rim Decision ‘Very Detrimental’

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RAWLINS – Sportsmen and conservationists today blasted the BLM’s decision to approve 2,000 wells in a massive coalbed methane project stretching from Rawlins to Baggs along the eastern edge of the Red Desert. Called the Atlantic Rim project, it would approve 8 wells per square mile and a tangle of roads and pipelines totaling 1,000 miles each across prime wildlife habitats and treasured recreation areas.

“The decision allowing up to 2,000 wells is very detrimental to the area.” said Pat Nealon, a Rawlins sportsman representing the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “With the roads, pipelines and reinjection wells there is no way this can be done without harming the wildlife, wintering grounds, or migration routes.”

The Atlantic Rim is one of the most sought-after mule deer hunting areas in the state, and also boasts one of the two biggest sage grouse breeding concentrations in the state. According to a recently-released study on mule deer in the Atlantic Rim area, "Since the 1980’s the Baggs Herd Unit (BHU) has supported one of Wyoming’s largest deer herds and provided exceptional recreational opportunities to both resident and nonresident sportsmen. Mule deer hunting in the BHU is known for plentiful deer numbers, an abundance of public land, above-average success rates, and liberal license allocations. Mule deer hunting in the BHU consistently provides more than 14,000 recreation days each year.” The study highlights the importance of migration routes that traverse the project area and adds, “Sustaining migratory mule deer populations in the BHU will require that suitable seasonal ranges (i.e., winter, transition, summer) be maintained and migration routes remain functional." The report is available on the web at http://www.west-inc.com/reports/big_game/AR_report_final.pdf.

“I started hunting out in this area in the mid 70's and there is not near the quality of game hunting as there once was and sage grouse are almost nonexistent in areas that they were once plentiful,” added Nealon. “Many of my union members are sportsmen and can tell you that the development that has already occurred southwest of Rawlins has already had an adverse effect on the game as well as the countryside as a whole. Just the number of vehicles traversing the roads at present has affected the number of animals in the area. The amount of particulate raised by these operations has already hindered our views of Elk Mountain.”

The Atlantic Rim project includes the western half of the Wild Cow Creek citizens’ proposed wilderness area, the last chunk of wilderness-quality land left along the Atlantic Rim. “Going out to Wild Cow Creek, it’s the spaciousness, the pitch and roll of the landscape, the incredible span of sky —these are unique and precious qualities that you don’t find in industrial landscapes,” said Chuck Mollica, a local Rawlins resident. “Also, we’re losing species at an increasing rate; we have to protect some of these last gems like Wild Cow Creek as islands of diversity or all we’ll have at the end of the day is an impoverished weed lot.”

According to BLM analysis, the project is projected to have a major impact on populations of sage grouse, mule deer, pronghorn, and native fishes in the area, as well as wiping our scenery and recreation opportunities across the quarter-million-acre project area. “

Given the impressive body of science that now shows that seasonal protections simply don’t work, it’s astounding that the BLM is still pushing industrial-scale drilling into our most sensitive wildlife habitats with the same old wildlife stipulations that they know don’t provide enough protection,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “Instead of learning from the mistakes of the past, the BLM seems doomed to repeat them over and over again instead of admitting that it’s an unworkable situation. If this pattern keeps up, drilling will be driving more and more of our wildlife onto the Endangered Species list, and worse yet, we stand to lose a lot of it.”

Major methane seeps have cropped up as exploratory drilling for coalbed methane got underway along the Atlantic Rim, raising concerns about public safety and impacts to global warming from the venting of large quantities of methane into the sky. During its environmental analyses, the BLM never disclosed the volume of methane that is presently leaking out at the surface in the Atlantic Rim, or estimated how much more will be vented once the drilling gets underway in earnest.“

New mud pots and other methane seeps appear to be caused by methane escaping from dewatered coal seams in the area. The BLM is in denial. If these new methane springs are popping up as a result of the coal bed methane drilling, it will be a huge problem affecting the entire Atlantic Rim landscape, and it will waste a lot of methane gas escaping to the air," said Steve Jones, Watershed Protection Director with the Wyoming Outdoor Council. "Methane gas," Jones noted, "is 12 to 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a global warming gas affecting the atmosphere."

The weakness of BLM’s environmental analysis on wildlife for the Atlantic Rim drilling was also a source of major concern. “When the BLM approves the industrialization of some of the state’s most important wildlife habitat, ignores the need to protect wildlife and public recreation, and offers an analysis that’s so full of holes, they’re just begging for a lawsuit,” added Molvar.“

If this development is necessary, it surely could have been spread out at much greater distances and time,” concluded Nealon. “Eight wells per square mile is extreme overkill.”