Powder River power play: Sage grouse stops 82 wells.
Feds toss 82 CBM permits in Wyoming
Permits for 82 coalbed methane wells are being remanded back to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Buffalo field office because of alleged inadequate and inconsistent regard for sage grouse.
The Interior Board of Land Appeals decision could have broader implications for the industry in the Powder River basin, given that ranchers and various environmental groups have filed similar appeals to the board.
Officials with the Wyoming BLM and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming said they had not seen the ruling and declined to comment, according to a report in the Casper Star-Tribune.
The single Interior Board of Land Appeals ruling was made in response to two separate appeals, one filed by the Powder River Basin Resource Council and another by Campbell County rancher William Maycock.
Some work has already taken place to develop the 82 wells because a request to halt development during the filing was denied, Powder River Basin Resource Council’s Jill Morrison said.
Already this year, conservation groups have launched two legal challenges to the BLM's Powder River basin oil and gas environmental impact statement. One asks for a phased development plan for coal-bed methane in the area, and the second seeks to protect sage grouse and the black-tailed prairie dog.
The environmental impact document, issued in 2003, opened the region to more than 51,000 CBM wells, an action that the BLM estimates will transform much of the landscape into a "light industrial" area.