The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins Field Office is seeking public comment on its environmental analysis of a proposed major expansion of natural gas development on 1.1 million acres of mixed ownership land in Carbon and Sweetwater counties.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) evaluates the potential impacts of the Continental Divide-Creston (CD-C) Natural Gas Development Project, a proposal to develop 8,950 additional natural gas wells, including 100 to 500 coal bed natural gas wells near the existing Continental Divide/Wamsutter II and Creston/Blue Gap natural-gas fields. The wells could produce an estimated 12.02 trillion cubic feet of natural gas during the project’s anticipated 30 to 40 year life and would use a combination of vertical and directional drilling techniques.
The checkerboard pattern of land ownership for the project is comprised of 59 percent federal, 37 percent private and 4 percent state-owned land. The development stretches from about 25 miles west of Rawlins, on the eastern boundary to roughly 50 miles east of Rock Springs as the western boundary. Interstate 80 bisects the project area. Proposed by BP American Production Co., the planned facilities would include well pads, gas and water collection pipelines, compressor stations, water disposal systems, an access road network and an electrical distribution system. The CD-C project area was first developed for natural gas in the 1950s, and currently supports more than 4,000 wells. Presently, there are 49,218 acres of surface disturbance, including nearly 8,500 acres of long-term disturbance, in the project area.
The BLM has worked closely with federal, state and local partners, members of the environmental and conservation communities and other interested stakeholders to develop the EIS’s preferred alternative, which would require significant environment mitigation measures to ensure an appropriate balance between energy development and protection of the area’s outstanding natural resources.
Written comments will be accepted until Jan. 21, 2013. Comments may be emailed to [email protected], faxed to 307-328-4224, or mailed to the Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, WY 82301.
After the 45-day comment period on the Draft EIS concludes, all comments will be reviewed, responded to, and addressed in Final EIS which is anticipated to be released summer 2014.
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the individual listed below during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the below individual. Replies will be made during normal business hours.
Before including addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, or other personal identifying information in the comments, be aware that the entire comment – including personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While writers may ask us that comments withhold personal identifying information from public review, the BLM cannot guarantee that they will be able to do so.
For further information, contact Mark Ames at 307-328-4294.
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