GILLETTE, Wyo. — It’s not enough to know about drill bits and multiple well completions.
To produce natural gas in the West today, energy companies have to know about how to grow falcate alfalfa in drought conditions and how to attach radio collars to small game birds.
“I love the outdoors. We live here because of the outdoor activities we enjoy, so we’re very much committed to conserving outdoor activities and conservation of the wildlife,” said Reed Scott, general manager of regulatory affairs and permitting for Anadarko Petroleum.
The company drills about 500 coal-bed methane wells annually in the Powder River Basin and 160 coal-bed methane wells per year in the Atlantic Rim area of southern Wyoming to maintain about 440 million cubic feet per day of gas production.
That means Anadarko employees and the company’s contractors scour the same sagebrush landscapes as Wyoming’s wildlife, some of which is struggling.
This year, Anadarko was recognized by Wyoming wildlife managers for its work to preserve wildlife and wildlife habitat in the Atlantic Rim area. Anadarko also received an award from the federal Bureau of Land Management for compiling a database of habitat in Wyoming, which it shares with land managers.
This year, Anadarko launched a program, in cooperation with state and federal land managers, to track sage grouse in both the Atlantic Rim and Powder River Basin. So far, 100 female sage grouse have been fitted with radio collars, most of them in the Powder River Basin.
Scott said wildlife professionals hope to learn where the birds migrate to and whether they come back to the same strutting grounds after development has taken place nearby. The more real-life data that is available, the better wildlife managers and gas producers can adapt to minimize impacts and possibly improve some areas, Scott said.
West Nile virus is a particular concern for sage-grouse populations in the Powder River Basin. Scott said Anadarko in the past has relied on tossing “bricks” of insecticide into ponds to kill mosquito larvas. This year, the company experimented with an aerial application of larvicide to cover a large span of coal-bed methane ponds.
