About 100 ranch trucks and industrial vehicles hauling equipment to the oil fields pass through a remote crossroads in Converse County each day.
In about a decade that number could jump by 1,800%.
One of the largest developments Wyoming has ever seen could be coming to this empty stretch of prairie. At it’s peak, the proposed project would include 5,000 oil and gas wells on 1,500 pads.
The scale of the proposed project is hard to envision, but the numbers compiled by the Bureau of Land Management tell a tale of huge growth. With it comes a similar number of concerns, from road wear and tear to water usage.
The agency recently released its draft environmental study for feedback and held meetings in Casper, Douglas and Glenrock as part of the public comment period, allowing everyone from county officials to ranchers to weigh in on the proposed plan.
The project is an undeniable boon for business in the county and for nearby Casper, the center of Wyoming’s oil and gas services industry. It would offer both jobs and revenue for Wyoming at a time when the state is still distancing itself from the effects of a crippling bust in the fossil fuel industries.
The Project
The Converse County proposal spans 1.5 million acres of land. It’s located between Douglas and Glenrock with the Interstate 25 along the southern border and the county line at the north.
Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko Petroleum, Devon Energy, EOG Resources and SM Energy brought the proposal to the Bureau of Land Management in 2014. The environmental analysis from the Bureau of Land Management considers a 10-year time frame in which five companies drill the 5,000 wells.
The joint approach to development over a wide area is unique in the Powder River Basin, said Mike Robinson, the project manager for the Bureau of Land Management.
This is the largest project Robinson has seen in the state, and these are some of the largest players in Wyoming. More than a dozen other operators are also drilling or planning to drill in the oil and gas rich area.
But the Converse proposal also stands out because of split estate. Only 10 percent of the surface is federally owned, but the Bureau of Land Management holds the rights to more than half of the resources to be mined.
That hampers the agency in some ways when it comes to development, Robinson stated. The Bureau of Land Management does not have as much control over how the development proceeds as it would if it also owned the land.
(Sourced from the Casper Star Tribune)