Sportsmen Challenge Gas Development Decision Endangering World-Class Wildlife Resource in Atlantic Rim

By Daly Edmunds and Michael Saul. Article courtesy of Wyoming Wildlife Federation Staff and the Pronghorn Newsletter

In May 2007, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Record of Decision (ROD), opening the 270,000 acre wildlife-rich Atlantic Rim area southwest of Rawlins to intensive coalbed methane (CBM) development. The Atlantic Rim ROD approves the drilling of approximately 2,000 new natural gas wells within some of the most productive big game habitat in Wyoming.

In June 2007, Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) filed a joint administrative appeal of the BLM’s decision, followed by a Statement of Reasons that clarifies the Federations’ concerns in July 2007.

The Atlantic Rim area, comprising a range of habitats from sagebrush to varied uplands with consistent water sources, contains some of Wyoming’s best habitat for several important game species including mule deer, elk, sage grouse, and pronghorn antelope. The area is a mix of BLM, private, and state surface ownership, and has seen some historical natural gas development as well as limited exploratory coalbed methane development over the past several years. However, despite limited development, it remains the best wildlife habitat in the Rawlins area - and one of the best hunting destinations in the state.

Given the 46% decline that has been documented among mule deer in the Pinedale gas field, the outlook for the Atlantic Rim’s Baggs Herd Unit – one of the largest mule deer herds in the intermountain west – does not look promising under the BLM’s decision. Under the BLM's hands-off approach to managing development, the future is even more grim for sage grouse in one of the West's best remaining strongholds.

Local sportsmen are frustrated because the Atlantic Rim project does not include many standard protective measures that would lessen its significant impact on hunting, recreation and wildlife. An earlier BLM document (Draft Environmental Impact Statement, December 2005) noted that such fundamental change will make the 270,000-acre Atlantic Rim area “undesirable for hunting or wildlife viewing”. The BLM’s own analysis further acknowledges that drilling approximately 2,000 coalbed and conventional wells will convert the Atlantic Rim into what is essentially an “industrialized setting” - dramatically impacting hunting in the area for generations, as the project is expected to last up to 50+ years.

The Federations' appeal seeks to have the BLM correct three significant legal flaws with its decision to open the Atlantic Rim area to essentially unchecked industrialization.

• Despite the availability of new research (funded by industry and the BLM), which documents the Atlantic Rim's use by migrating mule deer, the BLM has failed to address what the intensive development on these public lands will do to deer behavior and population health. Furthermore, the BLM has not left itself adequate flexibility to prevent known and established migration routes from being imperiled or destroyed by development.
• The BLM, contrary to its obligations to preserve habitat for sensitive species, is proposing the effective eradication of sage grouse from the area. The BLM continues to illegally rely on mitigation measures that have been proven ineffective, such as prohibiting development in a quarter-mile zone around the birds’ strutting grounds (breeding location - leks), despite multiple recent scientific studies showing that BLM standard management measures leads to the elimination of grouse populations.
• Finally, the appeal challenges BLM's decision to reject balanced, reasonable development alternatives that could allow natural gas extraction in the area while protecting important wildlife habitat.

During hunting season, local motels are typically booked full with both state residents and national clientele who hunt elk, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. “The future of one of the most popular recreation and hunting areas in southern Wyoming is at stake,” says Wyoming Wildlife Federation Field Director Joy Owen.

BLM's Atlantic Rim decision also has been appealed by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and by a coalition of Wyoming conservation groups.

Additional Resources:

• Atlantic Rim Fact Sheet 

Related Links:

• News: Fed land management plan endangers wildlife (09/19/2008)
• BLM report: Drilling would boost gas leakage (3/4/08)
• Judge Won't Halt Drilling - Dec. 4, 2007 - Casper Star Tribune
• Casper Star Tribune article on the methane seeps developing in the Atlantic Rim
• Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision on Atlantic Rim
• BLM Press Release - Dec 3, 2007 - District Court Denies Injunction on Atlantic Rim
• Scientific Studies
• Skytruth Blog
• CBM Drilling Simulation: Before-after pairs of satellite images showing the Atlantic Rim region of central Wyoming, and how it may appear after proposed drilling for coalbed methane based on the "preferred alternative" described in the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Bureau of Land Management.