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Carbon County is set to be No. 1 in the nation for energy development.

That is what Voices of the Valley (VOV) volunteers heard at the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority meeting in March.

VOV has been studying the effects of what a major energy boom in Carbon County would do and how it would change the county – including housing, tourism impacts and air quality.

Judd Campbell, president of VOV, and Jim States, vice-president of VOV attended council meetings last month to introduce themselves and explain what VOV does.

What VOV does is try and fill all of the perceived gaps in the Platte Valley and the impact of energy development.

States said there is a well-defined process for public involvement, such as the public hearings hosted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

“There is a problem with that process in my opinion,” States said. “Often enough the public doesn’t hear about it soon enough or they don’t get the details they need to know in order to respond to what the impact might be.”

VOV is attempting to serve as a facilitator, States said. VOV wants to help identify projects sooner and educate people about the details.

“We want to try to elicit from (the public) their concerns and opinions on how those project ought to proceed,” States said.

That is the goal of the public involvement process, States said.

VOV wants to help give those in Carbon County a say in the impact energy development will have on the county. Using this process, VOV can present to planning commissions and councils that are participating agencies in public review and decision process, States said.

“There are an awful lot of things heading our way,” States said. “Initially we thought we were way behind the curve.”

Fortunately, some timelines have been delayed, States said, which is buying VOV more time.

“But at the same time, we are finding out about more things that are coming,” States said.

“We can’t say no,” States said. The decision makers are looking for guidance from the public on how to proceed, and VOV can help the public be heard, by helping the public say these are the concerns they have about the project.

“That’s harder to do,” States said. “That takes a little bit of practice.”

Practice is something States has had when it comes to addressing decision makers. States became involved as an environmental consultant when coal-bed methane was introduced into the Powder River Basin. States soon discovered there was nothing going on that was more intensive than what was happening in the Powder River Basin at that time. States said he coined the term “We are in the crosshairs.”

States said he heard something similar in the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority meeting the morning of March 26.

“They were basically acknowledging that, right now, Carbon County is the No. 1 in the nation for energy development.”

KayCee Alameda, with Sonoran Institute (SI), explained that groups comparable to VOV exist, but have dealt with the timber industry. There has not been a group like this, that has studied the impacts of energy development at this scale, Alameda said.

Headwaters Economics is doing a study of Carbon County, Alameda said. They had just learned that SI is in Carbon County while working on the study according to Alameda.

The planned wind farms and infield wells are major contributors to making Carbon County No. 1 in energy development, Alameda said.