Eagle Prospect Well: Public Meeting notes
Exploratory oil & gas well project in Hoback area, Reporter’s Notes
by Dawn Ballou, Editor, Pinedale Online!
April 18, 2007
The Big Piney Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest hosted two open houses recently on the Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP) Eagle Prospect Exploratory Wells project. One open house was in Jackson, the second was at the Pinedale Library on Wednesday, April 18th. The Forest Service is the lead agency for the Bondurant area project.
The three-hour Pinedale meeting included an open house format where the public could look at maps and ask questions of Forest Service and Plains Exploration representatives. That latter half of the meeting was a question and answer session, with Big Piney District Ranger Greg Clark answering many questions from the audience.
Questions and comments from the public basically boiled down to restating yet again that they are opposed to any new drilling in the Wyoming Range, with pleas to delay the drilling or withdraw the lease completely.
Sublette County Commissioner Joel Bousman commented that the use of the Horse Creek Road is not a done deal. The commissioners will be meeting with Plains Exploration and the Forest Service when they know the route and have estimates on traffic so the county can make sure provisions are in place on how to protect the road from the heavy truck traffic. Agreements will be drawn up between the commissioners and the company before they can use the road.
The response from the Forest Service boiled down to: The leases have already been let and the company has a right to drill, so they will be allowed to do so. The Forest Service and PXP will use the best available current technology to do the job, will comply with all applicable state and federal regulations, and will be as responsive as possible to concerns over water & air quality, wildlife impacts, hazardous materials, waste water management, increased traffic, impacts on area residents, and any other concerns brought up through the DEIS public comment process.
Public comment will be accepted until Monday, April 30th by sending them to the Big Piney Ranger District. Copies of the DEIS are available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/projects. Paper copies are available at the public libraries in Jackson, Big Piney and Pinedale.
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