Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality issued a series of ozone-related human health warnings this winter based on concerns about high levels of ozone, the first time such warnings had ever been issued in the Upper Green River Basin (Land Letter, Feb. 28).

And in another part of the state also characterized by heavy gas drilling, the Bureau of Land Management has proposed drilling 4,400 additional natural gas wells in the Pinedale Anticline, which residents fear will only exacerbate the region's air pollution. The Pinedale Anticline and the Jonah Field are the two major gas fields in the area.

The March 22 letter, signed by scientists, doctors, nurses and two Sublette County Public Health officials, asked Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) and other government officials to conduct a comprehensive health impact assessment to assess BLM's plan to expand gas drilling in the Pinedale Anticline.

"Please be clear that we are not fundamentally opposed to oil and gas development in the Pinedale Anticline gas field," reads the letter, which was also sent to BLM, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the Wyoming Department of Health and oil and gas industry officials.

"Energy development has flooded our county with revenue and jobs. But revenue alone does not preclude or necessarily remedy the associated impacts and pressures placed on our county and its citizens. It is therefore critical that management decisions be informed, with a full accounting made of all the impacts and necessary remedies including those to human health."

Randy Teeuwen, community relations adviser for EnCana, one of the area's largest operators, said the company has not responded to the citizens' letter but it has been working diligently to reduce its air pollution by consolidating its operations, bringing down line pressure (which provides less opportunity for the release of fugitive volatile organic compound emissions), replacing its incinerators with more efficient units and using natural gas drilling rigs in the Jonah Field, which reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent compared to typical diesel rigs.

"We do take the air situation in Sublette County seriously and we are -- and have been for some time -- working very aggressively to make sure our emissions in both production and drill operations are as near zero as possible," Teeuwen said.

Darci Sinclair, a spokeswoman for Shell Oil Co., another major company drilling in the area, wrote in an e-mail that BLM's plan "fully addresses potential impacts and the potential for reduced emissions in the long-term." In the short-term, operators are continually looking for ways to reduce their impacts, she said.

"Ultra, Shell and Questar's long term development plan, if approved, will balance development of the natural gas resource while preserving air quality," she wrote.

U.S. EPA has also criticized BLM's drilling plan, citing concerns about elevated ozone levels, groundwater contamination and visibility problems in nearby federal wilderness areas. In February, EPA gave the newly revised drilling plan for the Pinedale Anticline its worst possible rating and recommended that BLM revise the plan to correct the problems identified by EPA (Land Letter, Feb. 21).

Pamela Curry, a member of the Pinedale Planning and Zoning Commission, said not enough has been done to control emissions related to oil and gas development. She blames the regulatory agencies for not placing tighter controls on air pollution.

"It's a failure, primarily of the state but also of BLM," Curry said. "They haven't paid enough attention to this problem. Otherwise, it would not have gotten to this point."

Curry also criticized Gov. Freudenthal for relying on oil and gas operators to undertake voluntary measures, expressing doubt that they would be effective.

"The corporation ... has only one goal -- the bottom line -- and it has to answer to its shareholders, so if it's not required to be spending money, then that's money that it didn't really have to spend that's hurting its bottom line," Curry said. "It's the responsibility of government to regulate, especially when it comes to air and water quality because there are so many different sources."

Health impact assessment

The letter emphasizes that BLM's latest study of the proposed gas wells did not address the potential human health consequences of ongoing and proposed natural gas development on federal lands.

While acknowledging these breeches of water and air pollution regulations, the letter expresses greater concern about undiscovered human health risks related to the continued energy development. "Health impact assessments are designed to address exactly this critical knowledge gap," the letter states.

Thomas Johnston said he signed the letter because it is his duty as Sublette County's public health officer to protect the public's health. Johnston said a more complete assessment of the impacts of oil and gas drilling needs to be completed, looking at effects on air quality, public health, wildlife and the land itself.

"I think a total environmental health analysis looking at all facets of public health -- both the human public health and environmental health -- has to be done," Johnston said. "It should've been done to begin with. It should've been done five years ago or whenever they started this whole project, but it wasn't done out of political interest and in the interest of speed, so there are a lot questions that remain unanswered about the effects of drilling."

Linda Baker of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition said the human health impact assessment must include a much broader range of agencies than the ones Freudenthal outlined in a letter if it is to be effective.

"The county has neither the knowledge nor the resources nor the will in my opinion to create a health impact assessment," Baker said. "That doesn't mean they shouldn't be involved in its creation. Certainly, local governments should be involved ... but there are other agencies that have expertise in conducting a health impact assessment."

Baker said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, state DEQ, BLM and the oil and gas operators should all be involved in an assessment.

"It shouldn't be a small effort," Baker said. "These are world-class impacts to world-class resources, and the problem is too big for any one agency or group to undertake."

The governor responds

Freudenthal responded to residents' concerns last week, calling ozone a "significant concern." The governor said a human health risk assessment "might be an appropriate tool," but any assessment should involve the state DEQ and Department of Health "from a technical and logistical standpoint" and be driven by the local community.

In an April 10 letter, Freudenthal wrote that the state DEQ is already working with the oil and gas industry to "assemble a set of emission control strategies and to request the application of additional voluntary emissions reductions to reduce ozone when the potential for exceedances exists."

But Freudenthal also noted that the state is limited in its ability to control oil and gas development because most of the activity in Wyoming will occur on federal land.

"It is my view, and one that I understand might not be shared by some in Sublette County, that our best course forward in such a natural gas-hungry environment is to seek greater emissions controls, wildlife habitat protections and socio-economic stability than we have today with actions like those identified in the Pinedale Anticline Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement," he wrote, referring to the BLM document that recommends more drilling.

Freudenthal also wrote that the state DEQ and other agencies are holding a public meeting in Pinedale on April 21 to discuss air and water quality issues with local residents.

BLM spokeswoman Cindy Wertz said the agency has received the letter from Sublette County residents but has not decided whether it will respond. She would not comment on the letter beyond that.

Wertz did note, however, that BLM has been working closely with DEQ and EPA to resolve some of the issues with regard to its supplemental environmental impact statement for the Pinedale Anticline. "It's going very well, but nothing has come out in writing yet," she said.

Gable is an independent energy and environmental writer in Woodland Park, Colo.

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