CHEYENNE, Wyo.—A Denver company is proposing to build a gas processing and carbon sequestration plant on crucial winter range for elk in Sublette County.
The Cimarex Energy plant would be built on state land and approval would be up to the state Board of Land Commissioners. However, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department opposes building the processing plant on that site—favoring nearby ranchland instead.
Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland told the Office of State Lands an Investments in a recent letter that building on nearby private land would mean less impact on Sublette County’s largest elk herd, which has more than 200 animals and winters on the state section.
The Board of Land Commissioners is made up of the five statewide elected officials. Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked the board not to act on the plant at Thursday’s meeting because of the disagreement between Cimarex and Game and Fish, and the board didn’t.
“The board clearly supports these kinds of projects,” the governor said.
Scott Stinson, a Cimarex official, told the board that the state section is the best site available. He said the land is between two gas wells, is out of the wind and that building there would protect the view from the Piney Creek area and the Lander cutoff of the Oregon Trail.
“We’ve done everything to minimize the impact,” he said.
He said the company needs to decide on a site before moving into the project analysis phase with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. At that point there will be multiple public hearings in Sublette County to give the public ample opportunities to comment on the project, Stinson said.
Dan Budd, a Sublette County rancher and former legislator, holds a grazing lease on the school section and owns property on two sides of the state tract. Budd also spoke in favor of building on the state section, which he said isn’t a major elk calving ground.
“This is by far the most acceptable spot,” he said of the site.
But Vern Stelter, critical habitat protection coordinator with the Game and Fish Department, said that while the state land isn’t a major elk calving area, it is in the middle of an important elk wintering area.
Stelter said an option would be to move the site to the Budd ranch, where there would be less impact on the elk herd.
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Information from: Star-Tribune,
