Draft survey overlooks impacts to Platte Valley

Voices of the Valley (VOV) is an organization developed to keep the best interest of the Valley first. There are several proposed projects in Carbon County and the first of the concerns for VOV is the influx of workers coming into Saratoga for those proposed projects. The second concern is the environmental impact of one of the projects in particular according to Jim States, Vice President of VOV.

The Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development Project (CD-C) is slated to increase an already existing 4,000 natural gas well field, into a 13,000 well field. The field already exists around the Rawlins area, and if the proposed action takes place, the field will expand ten-fold. Also, the project is estimated to bring 2,900 workers into Carbon County at the peak of the development.

“We (the Valley) might be faced with the biggest natural gas development in the nation,” States said. “Our main concern is that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is inadequate.”

The DEIS did look at the impact on towns in Sweetwater County including Green River, Rock Springs and Wamsutter. It also included Baggs and Rawlins, but omitted the entire Upper North Platte River Valley, for unknown reasons to VOV,

The towns of Riverside, Encampment and Saratoga are all equal distance from the proposed CD-C project, as the towns studied, but the DEIS did not address the possible effects on those communities.

The main concern for the Valley, according to States, is that the air quality in the existing field is already below DEQ standards. By adding the 8,950 proposed wells, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has stated a significant impact on the air quality. The impact will be great enough that the level of pollution will be above that allowed by law.

The BLM is the lead agency in the proposed CD-C project and is required to produce a mitigation statement for the pollution.

“The DEIS, having identified potentially significant impacts in the surrounding region, does not say how it will prevent or reduce those impacts to acceptable levels in the region or for our communities,” States said.

VOV is concerned that it deprives residents of the Valley the opportunity to review information comparable to what other communities have, in commenting on the project.

“The DEIS has excluded the Valley and specifically the residents of the Valley,” States said. “Riverside, Encampment and Saratoga are at risk of the air quality and socioeconomic impacts.”

VOV is voicing the concern that the Upper Platte Valley is more directly downwind and the first low-lying Valley where atmospheric inversions occur and hazardous air pollutants could potentially be trapped and concentrated.

The VOV at this point is trying to provide a missing link. VOV is providing an early warning of what is to come and give local residents an opportunity to have their say.

“The VOV is asking the BLM to take a step back and let our Valley residents have a say in this,” States said. “Take the existing air quality and put this project on top of it. The BLM has stated a significant impact and provided no mitigation statement. They haven’t provided enough detail for the Valley.”