JIO Newsletter now available
Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office (JIO)
by Bureau of Land Management
December 4, 2007
The fall edition of the JIO Newsletter is now available on the internet and at the Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office (JIO). The JIO produces the quarterly publication to keep the public and potential project applicants informed on the agency’s progress.
The JIO was created by the Jonah Project Record of Decision (ROD), which also takes an innovative approach encouraging industry to minimize the footprint of development while maximizing recovery of natural gas and speeding up the reclamation process... The JIO provides a crucial mechanism to further mitigate project impacts by funding and implementing both on-site monitoring and off-site mitigation projects through a $24.5 million monitoring and mitigation fund committed by EnCana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc., and BP America Production Co).
The Jonah Natural Gas Field is located in the Upper Green River Basin of west central Wyoming, south of Pinedale. The Jonah Field’s 30,000 acres of rolling sagebrush are 94 percent federally owned. The area has one of the richest concentrations of natural gas in the United States, currently estimated at more than 14 trillion cubic feet.
In the fall edition of the newsletter, readers receive updates on the Square Top Wildlife/Livestock Project Update; Elk Mountain/Red Canyon Prescribed Burn; Air Quality Report; and the Jonah Disturbance Report. The “JIO Mitigation Plan & Focus Areas” section discusses the development of a strategic plan and the identification of specific mitigation focus areas. The strategic plan will better guide JIO mitigation activities towards areas of importance for wildlife species impacted from the Jonah Field.
Potential project applicants can learn how to best prepare a project proposal for consideration in the “Don't Wait Until March to Submit Projects…” section. The JIO is accepting project proposals through March 10, 2008. To apply for funding, please visit the JIO website at: http://www.wy.blm.gov/jonah_office. The JIO website has links to the JIO Mitigation Goals and Strategies as well as an on-line application. You can also take a look at the funded and unfunded projects by clicking on the Projects link.
Stay informed and stay current by reading the JIO Newsletter! View it on-line at http://www.wy.blm.gov/jonah_office/jio_news.htm or, for a hard copy, stop by the JIO Office located in the Pinedale BLM Office. For more information, call the JIO Project Coordinator at (307) 367-5386.
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