Wyoming’s federal drilling stats

When reporting on my latest story, Are Feds Slowing Oil and Gas Permitting?, I’d asked Wyoming Bureau of Land Management officials for their most recent oil and gas permitting and drilling figures. I got the stats a little late, but will share them with you now. An “application for permit to drill,” or APD, represents one well. Years represented are the BLM’s fiscal years.

— 2010 – 1,606 APDs approved, 1,280 wells drilled

— 2009 – 2,040 APDs approved, 1,450 wells drilled

— 2008 – 3,082 APDs approved, 2,421 wells drilled

— 2007 – 3,762 APDs approved, 2,309 wells drilled

— 2006 – 3,848 APDs approved, 2,774 wells drilled

Total APDs approved: 14,338

Total wells drilled: 10,234

So, during the past five years, the oil and gas industry has received more federal oil and gas permits in Wyoming than it has drilled (a surplus of 4,104). A federal APD is valid for 2 years. Also, many of these APDs were issued with stipulations such as seasonal restrictions for wildlife and habitat protection, which means a company may have a limited time-frame to drill the well during the year. Companies can — and often do — request an extension beyond the 2-year life of an APD.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Dog vs. Fawn: A Tense Détente

One can certainly question the newsworthiness of videos showing pets and animals, but there’s no questioning their popularity on the Internet. And if it’s pets with animals, well that’s a sure-fire bet for a popular video.

Which is why I feel compelled to share this brief video of my dog, Blue, waiting patiently to play with a disinterested fawn.

I was walking Blue around the neighborhood yesterday — the Lower South Fork of the Shoshone River near Cody — and we came upon an adult doe. Treats, commands and the shock collar have all taught Blue not to chase deer (mainly the shock collar), and he’s pretty good about it. So when the doe took off, he trotted after it until a quick “no” brought him back.

A bit further down the road, he refused to follow me after becoming fixated on something in the tall grass. Figuring it was a rabbit or vole, I hollered a bit more then headed back his way to investigate, which is when a fawn broke cover and stepped into the road, confused and distressed.

Amazingly, Blue didn’t chase or attack the fawn, but instead wanted to play with it, lying down as he often does when meeting other dogs to signal his friendly intent. I instinctively grabbed my phone-camera and shot a few seconds of video before realizing it was not a fun experience for the fawn and dragging Blue away. The fawn, whose apparent mother had may have tried to draw us away just moments before, stood frozen in the road until we were 50 yards away.

I suppose I could take a “teachable moment” here to examine wildlife management, rural subdivisions, operant conditioning, animal cruelty or any of a dozen other lofty concepts this video might evoke, but I’ll leave that to the online commenters. Instead, I offer a few brief seconds of pet-wildlife interaction for your amusement, and some much-deserved praise for my obedient dog, Blue.

Now if I can just get him to stop digging holes in the yard.

Contact WyoFile managing editor Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Industry decries regs as drilling nears all-time high

Whether it’s coal, uranium, oil or natural gas, Wyoming’s industry and political leaders proclaim that onerous regulations are dogging domestic energy development. Yet evidence continues to emerge suggesting otherwise.

This morning, Headwaters Economics released its statistical analysis, “Drilling Rig Activity Nears All-Time High,” demonstrating that oil and natural gas drilling in the United States has returned to pre-recession levels.

By late May 2011, there were 1,847 active rigs in the U.S., or 91 percent of the 2008 natural gas surge (2,031 rigs). That’s a major recovery from June 2009 when there were 875 active rigs nationwide.

“Oil and natural gas drilling activity has made a strong recovery since reaching a recession-induced low in late 2008,” said Julia Haggerty, the report’s author. “Market prices and advancements in drilling technology account for most of the increases in drilling activity.”

To be fair, the permitting process does take longer than it did 10-20 years ago. But companies have adjusted by planning for more lead-time, both in the coal and the natural gas industries. That’s more difficult for small Mom & Pop outfits to pull off. But that’s not the complaint. Instead, many of Wyoming’s leaders are claiming war against a regulatory regime bent on “job-killing” red-tape.

Responding to the EPA’s court-mandated move to address coal-fired power plant emissions, and an administrative move to extend a ban on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) issued a press release today stating, “The Obama war on western jobs continues. With its vast natural resources, the western United States could be a driver for economic recovery if only the Obama Administration would lay down its arms.”

Matthew Garrington of the Checks & Balances Project said the disconnect between actual drilling and production figures and claims that the West is under siege by bureaucrats gone wild is simple politics. High energy prices, said Garrington, are held up as evidence of too much regulation when evidence shows actual production remains tied to market fundamentals.

“We have more active rigs in the U.S. than all the countries combined,” Garrington told WyoFile. “For the last four of the past five months, the U.S. has been a net-exporter of petroleum. … If we do more drilling there’s no guarantee those resources will stay in the U.S.”

A handful of Wyoming lawmakers are spending taxpayer funds to form a “Production States” group — a sort of OPEC of western states who want to use their might in energy resource production to have more say in matters of federal environmental regulation.

So what’s really going on here? Is the West’s coal, oil, natural gas and uranium mining industries really under attack? Or is the war really one of political rhetoric? In January, U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) told WyoFile, “This (Obama) administration is flat-out against coal and they’re not going to let another permit go through. In 10 years, the coal industry will be done.”

A month later, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar came to Cheyenne to announce the Bureau of Land Management would hold competitive lease sales this year for four federal coal tracts in the Powder River Basin, totaling 758 million tons. Many more lease sales will follow, he assured.

No matter the political stripe, people on both sides of the partisan divide agree there’s plenty of hyperbole that comes from politicians, so there’s at least an opportunity to agree on actual production and market forces at play. Check back on Thursday when I write in the WyoFile Energy Report about this topic in more depth.

NOTE: This blog was updated on June 21 to clarify 2008 drilling surge and uranium mining ban.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Baker Hughes resumes carbon storage test well

After completing the first 2,000 feet of the “test” phase in April, Baker Hughes, Inc., will soon resume drilling the remaining 10,000 feet of a stratigraphic test well on the Rock Springs Uplift in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, as part of a multi-partner effort to test commercial carbon dioxide storage.

Of the 10 site characterization studies partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009, the University of Wyoming-led “Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project” is the first to start drilling a test well, according to UW officials.

“We are very excited to move into this stage of the project,” said Shanna Dahl, deputy director of UW’s Carbon Management Institute. “The project pace will accelerate significantly, allowing us to collect the well data necessary to continue to evaluate the Rock Springs Uplift as a potential commercial CO2 storage site.”

Detailed characterization of two deep saline aquifers in the Rock Springs Uplift for potential pilot- and commercial-scale CO? storage is expected to be completed in December 2012. Preliminary data, according to UW officials, shows the Rock Springs Uplift could store 26 billion tons of CO2 over 50 years. State and industry partners chose the Rock Springs Uplift location due to both the underground geology and because of its close proximity to “some the state’s largest sources of anthropogenic CO² emissions,” which includes Rocky Mountain Power’s Jim Bridger  coal-fired power plant just a few stone-throws away from the test well.

The plant emits about 18 million tons of CO2 annually. While some criticize underground carbon storage as dangerous, it represents a multi-pronged effort by Wyoming to advance technologies that might keep coal a viable fuel in a low-carbon-policy future. The National Center for Atmospheric Research super-computing center is under construction in Cheyenne, which will provide important modeling for carbon sequestration at the Rock Springs Uplift.

The University of Wyoming and GE Energy partnered to build the $100 million High Plains Gasification-Advanced Technology Center near Cheyenne, which will help researchers developer a cheaper way to gasify Powder River Basin coal.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Lockwood’s fiction comes to life in entomologist’s testimony

The Casey Anthony murder trial isn’t big news in Wyoming, but recent testimony from an entomologist is eerily similar to an excerpt from Jeffrey Lockwood’s fiction novel (yet to be published) Dose Unto Others, which  WyoFile published last week as part of a profile on Lockwood. Lockwood, an accomplished entomologist, left the science labs at the University of Wyoming to become an award-winning writer of non-fiction. Now the UW professor teaches philosophy and creative writing.

Here’s a sample of how Lockwood’s fiction in Dose Unto Others resembles real-life testimony in the Casey Anthony murder trial:

Warning: Both accounts are graphic and, well, gruesome.

Dose Unto Others:

The room, like the rest of the hotel, was overly air-conditioned and the coolness made the place more bearable. I wasn’t enjoying the odor, but at least it faded into the background. And this allowed me to concentrate on the flies. A dozen or so metallic-green flies were buzzing around in circles, evidently frustrated by having the object of their devotion zipped into a plastic bag and hauled off. The blow flies were looking to lay their eggs on a corpse they could smell but couldn’t find. From what I’ve seen, they favor bullet holes and knife wounds. A shotgun blast is a virtual nursery. But they’ll settle for most any orifice, including the openings that nature provides.

CNN Wire staff:

The flies suggest something began to decompose inside the trunk, but do not prove that the material was a human body, said Neal Haskell, a forensic entomologist from Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana. … Based on his analysis of temperatures and the reproductive habits of the small flies found on paper towels that another scientist found were soaked in fluid from decomposition, Haskell said it appeared that whatever attracted the flies had been in the car for three to five days.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Royalty Uproar; Public meeting Friday to discuss state-owned oil and gas

There will be a public meeting Friday afternoon (June 10) in Cheyenne to discuss proposed revisions to the standard lease form for state-owned oil and natural gas — the first such revision in 20 years to clarify and update bonding, valuation and other business regarding state-owned oil and gas resources.

The public meeting will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Herschler Building, in conference room 1699.

A state mineral lease auction in July 2010 netted $42 million on speculation of the Niobrara oil play in southeast Wyoming. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

The revisions were first made public last fall, and were sharply criticized by some in the oil and gas industry because of a provision to raise the maximum royalty rate. Later, the royalty provision was tabled, “After considerable discussion with industry and others,” according to a state document.  Some industry leaders had said the proposed royalty hike (2 percent) would make state mineral leases less attractive, while proponents of the measure argued that it is the state’s fiscal responsibility to get as much revenue as it reasonably can for the publicly-owned minerals.

It’s unclear whether state officials will re-insert the proposed royalty hike back into the lease form revision. Because of controversy early on in the revision process in the fall of 2010, the State Lands and Investment Board delayed action so the issue could be revisited under the new Gov. Matt Mead administration. The board recently delayed action and directed the Office of State Lands and Investments to conduct a public meeting to accept more input from stakeholders.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was updated on June 10 to clarify the content of the proposed lease form revision.

A coyote wanders along the edge of Indian Pond, near Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone National Park. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

Out of Yellowstone film screening in Cody

The Nature Conservancy is hosting a screening in Cody on Thursday of a short film focusing on winter range in Yellowstone National Park. Here are the details:

Out of Yellowstone is a brief documentary that shares the untold and often overlooked story of the critical importance of winter range for wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone.

This visually stunning film highlights the voices of those working to save Yellowstone’s magnificent herds: ranchers, conservationists, scientists and others. Together, these sometimes unlikely partners are forging a new way for conservation to work in this rapidly developing region.

Out of Yellowstone Film Screening
June 02, 2011
5 p.m.
Cody Auditorium
Cody, Wyoming

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the screening, here’s an online version of the short film “Out of Yellowstone.”

Wyoming mined $15.5B in minerals

The total value of minerals produced in Wyoming last year was $15.5 billion — the second highest valuation ever. This week Gov. Matt Mead announced that oil, natural gas, coal, bentonite, trona and uranium all increased in value in 2010. The taxable value of oil production ticked up 34 percent from 2009 to 2010, natural gas was up 30 percent and coal was up 6 percent. The taxable valuation of uranium produced in Wyoming was up 44 percent.

Those are big numbers, especially considering the fact that Wyoming has maintained or increased production volume in most categories. It also takes the bite out of messages from some trade organizations that EPA overreach is having a chilling effect on energy production. Industry’s response? Mineral production takes years of planning and development, notes the Western Energy Alliance, meaning policies set forth today will determine the industry’s ability to produce several years from now.

Check out the WyoFile Energy Report for more perspective.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Climbing leader rescued in Colorado

Only a few days after he talked to WyoFile for the “What Price Rescue?” story about the cost of search-and-rescue in national parks, American Alpine Club executive director Phil Powers suffered a serious fall while climbing above Clear Creek Canyon near Golden, Colo. He was rescued by the Golden Fire Department and taken by helicopter to Denver’s Saint Anthony Hospital, where he was treated for multiple injuries including fractured ribs, shattered vertabrae, a collapsed lung and a broken arm.

Rescuers set up a temporary heliport on Teton Park Road to transport people and rescue dogs to Garnet Canyon during the April search for lost skiers. (National Park Service photo by Jackie Skaggs - click to enlarge)

In the WyoFile interview, Powers, who is also co-owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, suggested that private insurance was one way to defray the cost of expensive rescues. He said that the American Alpine Club, one of the country’s oldest and most respected mountain climbers’ group, had recently begun offering two types of insurance to its members to cover  up to $10,000 in search-and-rescue, including helicopter transport.

Golden Fire chief John Bales said the complicated Powers’ rescue took two hours and more than 23 people including fire personnel, state troopers, Colorado Open Space Rangers and volunteers. The state highway serving the area had to be closed in both directions for two hours to facilitate the rescue. Bales calculated the cost of the operation, not including helicopter, at $2,200. Until two years ago, the Golden Fire Department would have charged Powers for the cost of rescue. But in 2009 the Golden City Council voted to no longer charge for these services because of objections from local climbers. As a result, Bales said, the fire department, which also serves surrounding Jefferson County, attempts to collect from Colorado search and rescue funds from hunting and fishing licenses.

According to Alpine Club spokesman Luke Bauer, Powers was covered in this case by his organization’s recently initiated insurance program.

— WyoFile consulting editor Rone Tempest is a former Los Angeles Times national and foreign correspondent who lives in Lander. Contact him at rone@wyofile.com

WPR reports on Wyoming’s unemployed

When the Wyoming House of Representatives declined a measure to accept some $38 million in federal funds to extend unemployment benefits in the state earlier this year, the general tone among legislators was that Wyoming’s unemployed were simply lazy and that unemployment benefits only serve to discourage them from looking for work.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck recently visited with some of Wyoming’s unemployed and under-employed workers who said finding a good paying job in Wyoming isn’t as easy as some legislators suggested. Check out Beck’s report “In Wyo., Unemployment Persists,” which aired Friday May 20 on Wyoming Public Radio’s Open Spaces program.

The report is an excellent continuation of coverage on the Wyoming House of Representative’s move to turn down federal unemployment funds under the argument that accepting federal aid is immoral. In March, WyoFile managing editor Ruffin Prevost issued a special report, “Aid Debate,” revealing that several of the legislators who had voted to block the federal unemployment funds on these grounds are recipients of federal aid through agriculture programs. Even Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, who hailed the legislature’s decision, received more than $49,000 in farm subsidies from 2007 to 2008, adding to the debate about whether some government subsidy programs are more critical than others and whether some Wyoming politicians are simply engaged in hypocrisy.

— Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief, 307-577-6069, dustin@wyofile.com.

Amazing Landslide Video

This amazing footage of a landslide on US 26-89 southwest of Jackson shows that Mother Nature  still holds sway over the flow of traffic in Wyoming.

“Because of the volume of mud, rock and water moving across US 26-89 about 24 miles southwest of Jackson, and the speed at which the material is moving, there is no practical way to stop the slide and begin work to reopen the highway until the slide stabilizes naturally,” the Wyoming Department of Transportation said in a prepared statement on Thursday.

‘Perfect Storm’ fuels Wyoming pine beetles

The state of Wyoming is in the spotlight today as part of 50 Stories, 50 States, 50 Days, an interesting blog project from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Since Earth Day, April 22, the agency and its partners are sharing 50 different stories over 50 days focusing on 50 states to tell how climate change is affecting (or may affect) wildlife across the country.

Today, Wyoming’s mountain pine beetle infestation is the daily story on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 50 States, Stories, Days blog. While you’re at the 50-stories blog, check out tales of how rising temperatures are affecting animals and ecosystems in other states.

A 'perfect storm' of conditions has fueled Wyoming's mountain pine beetle infestation. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife photo - click to enlarge)

Lodgepole pine forests in parts of Wyoming and other areas of the Intermountain West are being infested by the native mountain pine beetle – a voracious bug smaller than your little fingernail that is thriving in a warming climate.

Triggered by a “perfect storm” of extended droughts, warm winters, and old, dense forests, mountain pine beetle populations have exploded across a landscape of lodgepole pine trees throughout Colorado and southeastern Wyoming.

The mountain pine beetle is a true predator on many western pine trees because to successfully reproduce, the beetles must kill host trees. They typically kill trees already weakened by disease or old age, but even a healthy tree’s defensive mechanisms can be exhausted when beetle numbers are at epidemic levels. The beetle attacks pines in late summer, dispersing a chemical signal that attracts other beetles to mass-attack the tree. When the beetles bore through the bark of the tree, they introduce blue-stain fungus, which can work quickly to kill the tree.

State adds air quality monitoring station

Shortly after WyoFile published a special report, Pristine to Polluted, on May 17, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality announced the installation and operation of a new air quality monitoring station as part of its overall monitoring efforts.

DEQ now has 13 stations that sample air quality in western Wyoming.

The new station is located south of Rock Springs in the Hiawatha Gas Field, and will provide data to help DEQ assess ambient air quality — information that is currently lacking as regulatory agencies attempt to meet current and future air quality challenges amid large scale development of natural gas.

This camera is part of Wyoming DEQ's air quality monitoring network in western Wyoming. (Courtesy - click to enlarge)

One interesting aspect of the monitoring station is the fact that it is powered by wind and solar — a necessity due to the challenge of connecting to the grid.

“This is our first monitoring station that is not run on line power,” said Cara Keslar, DEQ Air Quality Division monitoring section supervisor. “One of the biggest challenges in siting long-term monitoring stations are the siting agreements and power supply. This technology could open new possibilities for monitoring in remote locations.”

The monitoring station will measure ozone, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, relative humidity, and solar radiation, according to DEQ. The station will also include scene monitoring for possible use in visibility studies.

According to Keslar, this monitoring station cost around $190,000, with EPA funding about 74 percent of the project. Annual maintenance of the site is expected to cost about $30,000.

Real-time monitored data, including meteorological data, can be found at www.wyvisnet.com. Here’s a breakdown of Wyoming DEQ’s air quality monitoring network in the western portion of the state:

— 10 continuous gaseous/particulate monitoring stations (displayed on wyvisnet)
— 3 camera-only stations (displayed on wyvisnet)
— 3 other particulate monitoring locations (Jackson, Pinedale, and Rock Springs) that collect data on EPA’s 1-in-3 day national schedule (not displayed on wyvisnet)
— 1 meteorological tower at Farson (not displayed on wyvisnet)

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Radio interview with WyoFile’s Samuel Western

Ted Vigil, right, has lived and farmed all his life in Worland. He still helps his son, Danny Vigil, left, in raising sugar beets and other crops around the area. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

If you’ve enjoyed reading Samuel Western’s recent three-part series, Hispanic Wyoming, then you’ll want to listen to his interview from Friday, May 13 on Open Spaces, Wyoming Public Radio’s original program about local issues and policy matters.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Molly Messick interviewed Western and Ed Munoz, who directs the University of Wyoming’s Chicano Studies Program. The discussion covers the state’s changing demographic trends, and how advances in agriculture — from mechanized farming to herbicides — have affected employment patterns around Wyoming.

Click here to listen to the  interview, which runs about 10 minutes.

In his series, Western takes WyoFile readers deep beyond the U.S. Census data that show how Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the country.

A Shift From Agriculture ran on April 26 and The Jobs Machine of Campbell County appeared May 3. ‘A Good Place to Live’ is the third and final part of his series looking at changing immigration trends in the Cowboy State.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

Sylvan Pass Slides Delay East Entrance Reopening

The same week WyoFile brought you an insider’s view of spring in Yellowstone National Park, including details of the heaviest snowfall in more than a decade, an avalanche has temporarily closed Sylvan Pass, between the park’s east entrance and Fishing Bridge. No one was injured, but a park truck was partially buried and damaged in the slide.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

The National Park Service issued this news release May 12:

Yellowstone National Park road crews and avalanche experts are working to clear Sylvan Pass of more than 20 feet of snow and assess the continuing danger of wet snow slides that have kept the road closed since May 11.

Yellowstone National Park road crews and avalanche experts are working to clear Sylvan Pass of more than 20 feet of snow from a May 11 slide that injured no one but partially buried a park vehicle. (courtesy photo - click to enlarge)

Four significant slides in the pass – one resulting in a debris field 70 yards wide and 20-30 feet deep across the road – have occurred in the past 36 hours. Consecutive days of mild spring temperatures continue to deteriorate high-elevation snowpack conditions and are expected to delay the reopening of Sylvan Pass for an indeterminate time until the safety of motorists can be assured.

The park is currently redirecting heavy road clearing equipment to support reopening operations, and avalanche crews searched the slide area today with probes and canine rescue teams to ensure no motorists were caught in the slide. An unoccupied government vehicle sustained damage when it was partially buried in a major slide as a ranger was conducting an assessment of the area on foot May 11. The ranger was uninjured in the incident. Explosives were used today by park officials to try and bring down some of the heavy, wet snow. Thirteen of 18 of the detonations were successful in releasing large amounts of snow.

This snow slide activity is expected to continue until the weather pattern returns to freezing night time temperatures. The current forecast for the Sylvan Pass area is for daytime temperatures in the 50s over the next two to three days, which will continue to warm the heavy snowpack and make it increasingly unstable. Overnight lows in the past 48 hours have dipped just enough below freezing to create a thin layer of ice, but that crust melts quickly by midday.

A blanket of heavy melting snow in the park’s interior has also contributed to the roof collapse of the RV repair facility at Fishing Bridge and caused roof damage to roof of the Grant Village Visitor Education Center. No injuries were reported in either incident, and repair work is underway.

Yellowstone’s North and West Entrances opened April 15, the East Entrance opened prior to the slide closure on May 6, and the South Entrance opens tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Some areas of the park such as Mammoth Hot Springs have already been experiencing the arrival of green grass and warm spring sun. Other areas remain wrapped in deep snow and chillier temperatures. Snow and ice still present in road turnouts and on thermal area boardwalks will make walking difficult or impossible for several more weeks.

May in Yellowstone means it is not uncommon for visitors to have both winter coats and shorts packed in the same travel bag.

Cloud Peak wins 350 million ton federal coal lease

Cloud Peak Energy Inc. was the successful bidder for a federal coal tract containing 350 million tons in the southern Powder River Basin, according to the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management.

Antelope Coal LLC, a subsidiary of Cloud Peak Energy, submitted a bid of $297.7 million, or about 85 cents per ton, for the “West Antelope II North Coal Tract.” The tract is just inside Campbell County’s southern border, and adjacent to the western and northern boundary of the Antelope coal mine.

Coal haul trucks wait to be loaded at the Belle Ayr mine south of Gillette. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

It’s not the highest per-ton bid for Powder River Basin coal in Wyoming, but at 85 cents Cloud Peak Energy’s bid is a vote of confidence in the future of Wyoming coal. Back in the 1990s, Powder River Basin coal sold for less than $5 per ton at times, and mine operators paid about 15 cents per ton for federal coal tracts. Today’s “fair market value” of 75 cents-plus per ton is evidence that prices are not expected to slide much below $10 or stay there for long if they do take a dip.

However, the cost of mining continues to rise as mines dig deeper and further away from their original load-out facilities, which means if spot prices drag long-term contracts below $10 per ton,  mining companies might want to sit on production until prices bounce back. Meanwhile, Powder River Basin coal producers continue to eye the Asian thermal market, which analysts expect will pay more than $130 per ton, depending on heating value.

Cloud Peak Energy owns and operates the Antelope, Cordero and Spring Creek mines in the Powder River Basin.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

LSO adds redistricting page

This year Wyoming legislators will redraw the boundaries of areas from which representatives are elected to the legislature, and the process should be an open one that encourages input from the public. So kudos to the Legislative Service Office for launching a new redistricting website. District boundaries are supposed to be drawn to fairly represent all constituents, but the process also presents an opportunity to favor one voting block over another — a time-honored battle between Republicans and Democrats.

Check out the new website, and let your legislative representatives know you want a level playing field for all of Wyoming’s interests.

Here’s a list of upcoming public meetings which will help determine Wyoming’s voting districts:

- Rock Springs May 25 morning
- Pinedale May 25 evening
- Casper June 14 morning
- Wright June 14 evening
- Laramie June 28 morning
- Cheyenne June 28 evening
- Powell July 12 morning
- Worland July 12 evening
- Lander July 13 morning
- Rawlins July 13 evening
- Torrington August 15 evening

For more information, go to the redistricting webpage.

— Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief, 307-577-6069

Bin Laden Death Focuses Our Press

A secondary benefit of the termination of bin Laden is this: it has stimulated the press into conducting serious inquiries about weighty issues instead of  continuing to pander to the self-promoting bombastic utterances of The Donald.

— RT Cox, “The Sage Grouse”

UW professor: Bin Laden’s death won’t impact price of oil

Omnipresent in Wyoming is the potential for international events to affect the supply, demand and price of oil. Just a $1 change in the average annual price of oil or natural gas translates into tens of millions of dollars in revenue lost or gained by Wyoming’s coffers.

In the case of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, neither the man or the organization has control over energy supplies short of attacking energy facilities — which have not been major targets.

“I doubt that much al Qaeda would do … would contribute to prices in the oil market,” said Marianne Kamp, associate professor of history at the University of Wyoming.

Europeans worry about waves of refugees and migration due to instability in the Middle East and North Africa, but Kamp noted that that type of migration had been taking place since long before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When it comes to political volatility making waves in the energy markets, recent revolutions  to oust dictators has more potential for impact than the death of bin Laden, said Kamp.

“It opens big questions for investors and companies who are invested there, so I see those revolutions as much more important,” said Kamp.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Death of bin Laden good news for Wyoming’s military families

CODY — Many residents across Wyoming were no doubt rejoicing along with the rest of the country late Sunday night, as news spread of the successful effort by U.S. forces to kill Osama bin Laden, who approved the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But Wyoming and other Mountain West states with a high percentage of rural communities are perhaps cheering a little louder, and not without good reason.

Two unidentified pararescuemen from Moody Air Force Base remove an all-terrain vehicle from packing materials following a parachute jump onto a ranch near Lovell during training operations in 2008. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

According to U.S. Census data and studies conducted by numerous groups with wide-ranging political leanings, rural America (including Wyoming) has provided a disproportionate number of military recruits since the attacks of 9/11.

In the nation’s least populous state, that outsize contribution may be felt even more acutely, as almost any resident in one of Wyoming’s close-knit, small communities is likely to personally know someone who has served. Therrel “Shane” Childers, a 30-year-old U.S. Marine from Powell, was the first American killed in the war in Iraq.

Though the question of military demographics has often been treated as something of a political football, the U.S. Army’s web site for recruiting states that the “Army is significantly over-represented for enlistments from the South Atlantic, West South Central and Mountain Divisions,” which includes Wyoming. Nearly half of all fiscal year 2009 recruits were from those areas, and the “enlisted Army recruit population is skewed more toward rural and suburban areas than is the total population of 17-24 year-old youth in the United States,” it states.

Sgt. Francisco Ortiz tests his packing skills while walking a donkey in Powell as part of training in 2006 for the 10th Mountain Division. (courtesy photo — click to enlarge)

Wyoming’s distinct geography and winter weather has brought some unexpected sights during the last 10 years, as military personnel have sought cooperative communities where they can stage training exercises in remote terrain and conditions similar to Afghanistan.

More than 30 members of the 10th Mountain Division worked with Park County residents in 2006 to learn the finer points of mule skinning in the McCullough Peaks. They would (presumably) later put their new-found pack mule skills to use on resupply missions high in the mountains of Afghanistan.

More than 50 airmen from the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga. came to a ranch near Lovell in 2007 to practice rescue and recovery operations in preparation for activities in Afghanistan. (They ended up helping with spring branding at the ranch.)

And in December 2008, eight active-duty U.S. Air Force personnel made their way across the hostile and fictional “Republic of Wyoming” as part of a downed air  crew escape scenario supervised by a retired U.S. Army Special Forces member from Pinedale, and aided by volunteer veterans from across the state.

Sgt. 1st Class James Menne of the U.S. Special Operations Command parachute demonstration team jumps into Mentock Park in Cody during that town's 2007 Honor Our Special Forces Weekend activities. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFIle — click to enlarge)

Those are just a few examples of how communities across the state have quietly answered the call to pitch in and help those serving overseas. For the past several years, Cody has hosted an Honor Our Special Forces Weekend, a celebration designed to recognize the clandestine Special Operations troops that perform dangerous duties — like the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — while steering clear of the spotlight. Many other Wyoming communities hold similar events.

Bin Laden’s death won’t mark an end to violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, or put a stop to the efforts of terrorists to strike at America and its allies. But, along with multiple popular democratic uprisings across the region, his death offers the best reason for optimism that Wyoming residents and other Americans serving overseas may be able to come home soon, returning with a well-earned sense of pride and accomplishment.

Americans may disagree on everything from the justification for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the interrogation methods used to learn about Al Qaeda operations or bin Laden’s whereabouts to the exceedingly high financial and human costs of eventually silencing him forever.

But for those in Wyoming who have a friend or loved one in the military or in a civilian role supporting the ongoing fight against terror, bin Laden’s death is likely to be seen as good news — and another reminder of the debt of gratitude owed to those who serve.

Contact WyoFile managing editor Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Harry Jackson: Life (and death) on his own terms

Harry Jackson in 2008 with his dog, Fiona. (Photo © Hamilton Bryan)

I was saddened to hear that Cody artist Harry Jackson, 87, had died, but not at all surprised to learn that — after a long period of ups and downs followed by recent declining health — he simply refused to eat or drink. Harry lived life on his own terms, and met death the same way.

Many times, Harry and I talked about a long-form profile on him that we both wanted to see done. I was covering Cody and the Bighorn Basin for The Billings Gazette, and it bothered Harry that he had never gotten the star treatment in that paper — not even from legendary Gazette scribe and bon vivant, Addison Bragg, who was Harry’s old and dear friend. Like any reporter, I thought Harry was an irresistible subject.

But Harry was a stubborn and intractable old cuss who demanded that he “review” (meaning “edit”) anything written about him — something I wouldn’t allow for The Gazette (and won’t allow for WyoFile). So the grand profile, which I only wanted to do with his full cooperation, never got written. I still stopped by his studio (where he also lived until last year) every once in a while to chat and admire his art, including my favorite, “The Italian Bar,” which is not as well-known as most of his Western oeuvre.

I did end up writing a short piece on Harry based on a 30-minute interview with him that was part of a local art project I did with a photographer friend, Ham Bryan. Cody Character was a series of portraits by Bryan with accompanying bios by me of 10 longtime Cody residents, folks who had character, and, in some cases, were characters. (Both were true of Harry.)

That project was done for fun, not a paying gig for a news outlet. But when, as expected, Harry insisted on reviewing the bio, I initially considered just not writing one for him at all. But I decided the best course was to note on the piece that he had read and changed it. The project was Bryan’s, after all, and I was along for the ride, so I didn’t want to upset the apple cart. In the end, Harry was far more concerned about my grammar and punctuation than how I portrayed him. (You can read the brief biographical sketch here, along with profiles of other Cody residents.)

A lot of ink has been and will be spilled by folks looking to define Harry, pigeonhole him, sum up his life and work in a few paragraphs. I won’t even try. His persona overflows any canvas used to portray it. Which is why his art — not what is written about him or his work — will define his legacy.

Despite his meticulous efforts to construct and control his image, I suspect that’s something Harry always knew.

Contact WyoFile managing editor Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Want to be a director of recreation?

After reopening from a four-year closure, Sleeping Giant ski area won national recognition from a ski industry magazine for its snowboard terrain park. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

You might recall a WyoFIle story from December 2010 about small ski hills in Wyoming and their ongoing struggle to remain profitable. The good news is, as the AP recently reported, most Wyoming ski hills got good snow this year. But that’s just one piece of the puzzle to making a great hometown hill.

Another puzzle piece is finding the right people to run the show, particularly in the tricky area of nonprofit organizations.

The Yellowstone Recreations Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps fund outdoor recreation activities at the Sleeping Giant ski area and elsewhere around Park County and the Bighorn Basin, is looking for an executive director. The position closes May 15. Send queries to katewilliams@bresnan.net.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Photo Friday — Your Wyoming, Shot by You

Congratulations to Cody photographer Mack Frost, whose photo of cloud-shrouded cliffs along the Upper South Fork of the Shoshone River was selected as our favorite from among many great shots submitted as part of our recent Flickr contest. We’ll be sending Mack a collection of WyoFile gear, a Flickr Pro account and a $50 cash prize. Thanks also to our other Flickr contributors.

WyoFile is launching our new “Photo Friday” feature this week as a way to showcase great shots of Wyoming taken by great Wyoming photographers. Each Friday, to give you something beautiful to start your weekend, we’ll feature a different photo on our home page. The only criteria are that the image must be of somewhere (or something) in Wyoming, taken by a Wyoming-based photographer. We want to share your Wyoming, shot by you.

So keep an eye out for more great shots every Friday, and submit your favorite photos to our Flickr group. And again, thanks to the many great photographers who have helped us launch this feature with a wonderful collection of images.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Public meetings focus on 3,500-well proposal in Green River Basin

The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management has scheduled three public meetings seeking input on a proposal by EnCana Oil and Gas USA to drill 3,500 new gas wells surrounding the Jonah gas field:

— Monday, May 2 at the BLM Pinedale field office, 1625 W. Pine St., in Pinedale, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

— Tuesday, May 3 at the Big Piney Senior Center, 111 Rakestraw Ave., in Marbleton, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

— Wednesday, May 4 at the BLM Rock Springs field office, 280 Hwy. 191 N., in Rock Springs, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

As proposed, EnCana’s Normally Pressured Lance gas field would include 3,500 wells drilled in an area of 141,080 acres encompassing the western, southern and eastern portion of the Jonah gas field in Sublette County. The company estimates that drilling would take place over a 10-year period. The BLM will prepare an environmental impact statement to analyze the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts.

Click here for details of the Normally Pressured Lance project. Click here for a map of the project area.

The BLM will accept comments on the proposal until close-of-business on May 12. Mail or deliver written comments to: Kellie Roadifer, Pinedale Field Office, 1625 W. Pine St., P.O. Box 768, Pinedale, WY 82941. Comments can also be emailed to NPL_EIS_WY@blm.gov.

For further information, contact Kellie Roadifer at 307-367-5309 or kroadife@blm.gov.

- Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief

Sustainable funding for investigative reporting

Good reporting costs money. Robert Rosenthal of the Center for Investigative Reporting has a great TEDx talk about the challenges in finding a sustainable model for funding nonprofit investigative reporting on a large scale. WyoFile shares a lot of the same goals, methods and financial challenges, and Rosenthal’s talk is a great primer on why cooperative investigative reporting is needed in the wake of shifting (or collapsing) business models at news outlets everywhere. He cites California Watch’s recent “On Shaky Ground” investigation into seismic safety in schools as the kind of important work that is rarely done, and almost always after something goes wrong, rather than before. (Ken Doctor’s Newsonomics looks at the high cost of good reporting, noting that it took more than $500,000 to produce “On Shaky Ground.”)

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9321 or ruffin@wyofile.com.

Public input sought on massive oil shale proposal

Some call the massive oil shale deposit in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah the Saudi Arabia of American petroleum, while others believe the under-cooked shale has as much energy value as a giant potato. Either way, a number of major oil corporations say they’re serious about tapping the resource, and those plans could have significant ramifications to water, air quality and surface habitat. Here’s your chance to learn more about the proposal and tell federal officials what you think.

The Bureau of Land Management will host two public scoping meetings in Cheyenne on Thursday May 5 to discuss and accept comments on a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) and possible land use plan amendments for the allocation of oil shale and tar sands resources.

The meetings are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, 204 W. Fox Farm Road, Cheyenne, Wyo.

If you can’t make it to the meeting and still would like to comment, BLM will accept written comments by May 9. Mail written comments to Sherri Thompson, BLM Colorado State Office, 2850 Youngfield Street, Lakewood, CO 80215. BLM officials say that written and oral comments will be given equal weight for consideration in development of the programmatic EIS.

— Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief

‘Yeah, bring it, baby!’

It’s hard to say which is more impressive in this smartphone video clip — the thunderous crash of a massive rock slide, or the videographer’s visceral reaction. “Yeah, bring it, baby!” screams the unidentified cameraman as a hillside collapses in front of him onto U.S. Highway 14-A east of Lovell. As the rocks keep tumbling, the guy keeps filming.

The slide was Monday and the highway is open. But in the wake of steady rain and snow, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has issued falling rock advisories. (As if the video weren’t warning enough.)

Economic report: Wyo rides high on fossil fuels

To state the obvious; Wyoming’s economy rides high on fossil fuels, and it crashes with them, too.

I just opened Headwaters Economics’ new 102-page report, “Fossil Fuel Extraction and Western Economies,” released today, and it’s a must-read for Wyomingites. Some highlights: The value of oil and natural gas produced from 2003 to 2008 in five Rocky Mountain states — Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico — was more than $300 billion. While energy sector jobs are among the highest-paying, they’re also just as volatile as the up-and-down commodities they produce.

“In the recent recession, mining, including energy development, fell hard and fast: compensation for mining employment shrank by the largest percent (16.1% decline from 2008 to 2009 in the five-state region) of any economic sector,” according to the Headwaters Economics report.

In a conference call this morning, Headwaters Economics policy analyst Julia Haggerty said Wyoming is good at saving money from fossil fuel extraction, referring to Wyoming’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund. However, it could save more. She said the study suggests Wyoming is over-reliant on using sales tax to address impacts from energy development.

“In theory, that should be banked away for a rainy day,” said Haggerty.

The report also addresses an issue that’s been a sore point for all Wyoming for decades: severance taxes. Just as Wyoming’s infamous “Gerking report” found, the amount of severance tax levied on fossil fuel extraction is not a driver of energy-related jobs.

“Jobs respond closely to price,” said Haggerty. “They (states) should maximize this collection opportunity.”

- Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief, dustin@wyofile.com

Oil and gas safety meeting in Torrington

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance will meet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday April 21 at the Eastern Wyoming College campus. Organizers said they encourage managers to bring along their key employees.

The industry group was formed last year following a year-long process by state and industry officials to find out

Natural gas crews drive to "The Mesa" in the Pinedale Anticline for shift-change at dawn. - Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile (Click to enlarge)

why Wyoming was suffering from the highest workplace fatality rate in the nation. That’s not the case currently, but Wyoming still ranks among the worst.

WOGISA organizers say they want to establish some “best practices” for the industry. They’re meeting in Torrington this week because they want to encourage participation by companies in the Niobrara play that might be new to Wyoming.

It’s unclear whether the group or its subcommittees will address the blowout prevention issue in the Powder River Basin coal-bed methane gas play. But one topic sure to get a lot of attention at WOGISA is the issue of highway safety and seatbelts. Initial data gathered in Wyoming’s review of workplace fatalities suggested that, by far, most workplace fatalities occur on the road. That’s a particular concern in the Niobrara play, which spans a wide portion of southeast Wyoming where thousands of semis and pickups will be coursing through a network of roads that are not built for high or industrial traffic.

For a perspective on Wyoming’s effort to address workplace safety, this column written a year ago still does a good job of summing things up.

- Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Sen. Al Simpson mentions WyoFile reporting on Hardball

Former Sen. Al Simpson appeared Monday on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews for a free-wheeling discussion about the federal budget deficit. Simpson cited WyoFile’s special report on Wyoming legislators who took thousands of dollars in farm subsidy payments while voting against extending unemployment benefits for Wyoming workers as the “hypocrisy” of “people babbling they hate the government” while at the same time relying on government support.

“Have we created a schizoid mess where we think like cowboys, like people from Cody, Wyo., but we’ve created this welfare system where we have to pay it?” Matthews asked Simpson.

“We have a welfare state run by cowboys that don’t believe they have a welfare state,” Matthews said.

“Every cowboy out in Wyoming loves Medicaire,” he said.

View the embedded video below (wait through any ads then, if necessary, press the PLAY button in the video viewer) or click here to view the clip on the MSNBC site and wait until about 4 1/2 minutes for the farm subsidy mention.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

CBM operator rallies against blowout prevention measure

Upset about pending new “blowout prevention” requirements in the coal-bed methane gas industry, Powder River Basin operator Yates Petroleum has organized several public meetings on April 14 in Gillette to make its case against the measure.

Click here for a pdf of the notice circulated by Yates Petroleum.

Yates Petroleum declined to talk about its objections. However, the notice the company circulated this week claims “The Bureau of Land Management is considering an unneeded, undesirable and potentially unsafe change in drilling requirements that has strong potential to further delay drilling and reduce the number of Coalbed Methane wells drilled in the Powder River Basin.”

Late Wednesday afternoon, Wyoming BLM High Plains District manager Stephanie Connolly told WyoFile that the agency has been working quietly behind the scenes with the industry to resolve a concern about the potential to encounter pressurized gas while drilling for coal-bed methane in the Powder River Basin.

Connolly explained that when the industry began in earnest more than 10 years ago, operators drilled into relatively shallow coals which were not typically highly-pressurized with gas. However, as the play has advanced westward and into deeper coals, federal regulators are increasingly concerned about the potential for a “blowout” during the drilling operation.

Wyoming BLM officials are considering the implementation of “Onshore Order No. 2” which requires blowout prevention devices be used in the drilling operation. However, Connolly said details of the 20-year-old Onshore Order No. 2 are not easily applied to coal-bed methane gas drilling in the Powder River Basin. She said Wyoming BLM has been working closely with industry recently to figure out how to meet “the spirit of Onshore Order No. 2” while still taking into consideration the unique aspects of the Powder River Basin industry.

Connolly said BLM officials plan to continue working with the industry to resolve concerns, including a scheduled meeting with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming on Thursday.

There were a handful of “blowout” events in the coal-bed methane gas industry when commercial drilling first took off in the late 1990s, including one that resulted in a fatality. At that time, state and federal regulators worked with the industry to implement a blowout prevention requirement that involved a “bluey line,” which consists of a long pipe to vent unexpected belches of gas away from the rig crew.

This is not the first time Yates has organized public meetings due to concerns about regulations. About a year ago Yates called a similar public meeting to make its case that the BLM was unnecessarily holding up drilling permits.

Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief, 307-577-6069, dustin@wyofile.com

No magic Internet database for everything

Investigative reporting is often a tedious, time-consuming process. But it has gotten much easier in recent years as more and more information is being made available online.

This week’s special report, Aid Debate, shows how the Internet offers a wealth of information, but also how there is no such thing as a magic database that has perfect information on any single topic.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture could make available with relative ease a searchable online database showing who takes federal farm subsidy payments, and how much. But for reasons that aren’t entirely clear (the agency says it’s a cost issue, but it’s just as likely a political one), USDA chooses not to release that information online.

The federal government failed to achieve "total information awareness," despite spending $200 million on the effort.

So a public policy advocacy group, the Environmental Working Group, does the horribly painstaking work of requesting that information via the Freedom of Information Act and compiling it in an easily searchable form.

But there were some Wyoming farm subsidy data I found in a separate online database, FedSpending.org, managed by OMBWatch, that didn’t show up in the EWG database. That’s because, even though the USDA oversees farm subsidy programs, payments are funneled through a complex and Byzantine series of interlocking and overlapping offices and agencies.

It’s virtually impossible to find, cross-reference and present all that information. Even the federal government’s efforts at “total information awareness” for homeland security were a high-profile venture that riled privacy advocates and produced mixed results, at best, after more than $200 million spent.

One Wyoming farm subsidy recipient I spoke to said he had received an additional $30,000 or more that my research had failed to uncover. After searching several more places, I still couldn’t verify that amount, so I didn’t include it in the piece. But the point is that no single database, even one covering a relatively circumscribed and specific topic like farm subsidies, contains complete or perfect information.

But there’s no reason such public information shouldn’t be more available, more accurate and more complete. It’s our data, we paid for it and we have a right to search, review and reference it however we like.

Here’s hoping the next decade brings more advances on that front than we saw during the past one.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

Do you support Wyoming Public Radio?

A mostly GOP-led movement to cut federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, if successful, could trim some $288,000 from Wyoming Public Media’s annual budget. That’s about 15 percent of WPM’s budget, and it would force the organization to make immediate cuts in the services it provides throughout Wyoming. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, (R-Wyoming) voted to suspend funding of CPB and said she supports the cut as a way of addressing the nation’s shrinking budget and staggering debt. But given the partisan split on the House measure to cut CPB funding, and the actual debt-savings it would provide compared to other national budget items, some people say it’s clear the action is more ideologically driven than economically driven.

In a recent interview with WyoFile, Wyoming Public Media general manager Jon Schwartz said “This House bill that passed is, in an ironic way, is helpful in that it made clear this is a partisan attack on public radio alone.”

Wyoming Public Radio enjoys overwhelming listener support in Wyoming compared to public radio in other states, said Schwartz. Radio is particularly important in a rural state where people spend hours driving across rural spaces with only radio available for entertainment and news. National Public Radio has long been a target for the extreme Right, and recent dust-ups over the firing of Juan Williams and an under-cover video by right-wing activist James O’Keefe have intensified criticism of National Public Radio as too left-leaning in its reporting. Is that criticism fair?

WyoFile would like to hear from both Wyoming Public Radio supporters and critics. Will you support Wyoming Public Radio this year? Why or why not? Please give us your thoughts, and WyoFile will follow up with a report on the potential cuts to Wyoming Public Radio and what it means to citizens of Wyoming.

- Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief

Let the sun shine in

The U.S. government spends far less on declassifying old documents than on creating and keeping secret new ones. (McClatchy Tribune Information Services — click to enlarge)

Sunshine Week wrapped up March 19, and you may have been reading some of the great stories  done by reporters across the country to highlight the annual event. Sunshine Week has its roots in efforts begun in 2002 by a group of Florida editors seeking to call attention to a planned rollback of that state’s public records laws. It has since evolved into an annual nationwide observance of the importance of open government and public access to information.

At WyoFile, we work year-round to hold public officials accountable, to make government operations transparent and to make available the public records you own. We’ve begun using state-of-the-art online tools to help present public documents, and we regularly work for access to meetings and records that are supposed to be open and available, but all too often are not.

So with Sunshine Week 2012 only 51 weeks away, it’s time to get working on some ideas for next year! We want to hear from Wyoming residents about access to public records in your communities.

Are there state, federal or local public officials who aren’t following the law and providing you with the documents you’ve requested? Do you have a great public document you’d like to share? Do you have a story about how access to public records helped you or others in your community tackle a tough public policy issue? Are there records not available under the law that you’d like to see opened for review?

Send your public records story pitches, gripes, concerns and personal stories to editor@wyofile.com, and maybe we’ll make one of them the focus of a feature story for Sunshine Week next year — if not sooner.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

Frontier reports oil spray

When reporting on the use of hydrofluoric acid and past performances of Wyoming Refining Co.’s Newcastle refinery and Frontier Refining Inc.’s Cheyenne refinery, I didn’t have this piece of information about an apparent oil spray event that reached neighborhoods in Cheyenne on February 1. In a recent phone interview, Cheyenne resident Ronald Jones told WyoFile that everything in his neighborhood was coated with fine black dots. “This is the third time in 30 years we’ve been coated in oil,” said Jones. At WyoFile’s request, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality provided this report it received from Frontier Refining on February 2.

On February 1st, a relief valve (RV) in the Crude unit released to atmosphere. The RV caused gas oil droplets to fall downwind of the refinery. The initial investigation showed that the droplets were very faint near I-80 on the refinery property. However, a call from a citizen later revealed that the droplets did in fact go south of the interstate into a few neighborhoods off of Fox Farm. They have a plan in place to address those issues and remove the droplets from the cars with free car washes to those affected.

So far, no enforcement action has been listed by Wyoming DEQ related to the spill.

— Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief

WyoFile Continues Writers’ Series

Susan Gray Gose

Wyoming’s mountains and arid high plains continue to prove fertile ground for writers.

Earlier this month, University of Wyoming professor and writer Brad Watson was named a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, a national prize honoring American fiction writers chosen from more than 300 works submitted annually.

WyoFile contributor Susan Gray Gose caught up with Watson during the university’s spring break to talk about the honor, his past successes (including a National Book Award nomination), and what he’s at work on now. WyoFile’s Writers’ Series aims to introduce or deepen readers’ knowledge of Wyoming’s best writers. So far mystery writer C.J. Box, novelist Mark Spragg and memoir author Laura Bell have been featured.

Gose will next profile University of Wyoming entomologist and award-winning author Jeffrey Lockwood, who solved the mystery of the disappearance in the early 1900s of the Rocky Mountain Locust, which famously plagued settlers in the late 1800s.