American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 122

ConventionCoverage: Petroleum Association of Wyoming

The Wyoming core area strategy mitigation assessment tool is designed to discourage activity within 0.6 miles of a
sage grouse lek, explains Wyoming Game
& Fish Department Habitat Protection
Supervisor Mary Flanderka. She recommended producers not think in terms of
acre-for-acre reclamation exchanges,
since not all areas were equally appropriate for sage grouse.

as school zones, Flanderka likened. "We
are trying to discourage any activity
within 0.6-it will be worth your while to
stay out of there-but if you have to go
there, then you know the cost. If you are
within the EO thresholds, there is no
penalty."
The 0.6-mile buffer is only one of
many weighted multipliers in the state
tool's formula, she explained, and noted
that other factors considered distances
out to 4.0 miles, whether the area was
suitable habitat, and whether the disturbance was above or below the surface.
Another big factor, she indicated, was
activity that pushed cumulative habitat
disturbance above 5.0 percent. "The birds
really start to decline after 5.0 percent,"
Flanderka commented. "If your activity
pushes an area's disturbance from 20.0
percent up to 20.5 percent, the penalty is
less."

to incorporate sage grouse habitat conservation policies for six BLM offices
and three national forests (see "PAW
Files Protests Regarding Resource Management Plans," AOGR, August 2015,
pg. 126).
"Wyoming's RMPs are a lot better
than (in other states) because Wyoming's
EO strategy was embedded in them,"
Mathes related. "But the trade organizations still protested a wide range of
issues, the largest of which was all the
RMPs' net conservation gain standard,
which is not even required for (ESA)
listed species."
According to Wagner, PAW has joined
with groups including the Colorado Oil
& Gas Association, Western Energy Alliance and Independent Petroleum Association of America in filing three Data
Quality Act challenges to the science
that BLM, USFWS and the U.S. Geological Survey are using to make decisions
about the greater sage grouse with regard
to public lands and ESA status.
According to Wagner, PAW and the
other industry groups filed joint challenges
to the science used in the BLM's Report
on National Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Measures (NTT Report) the
USGS's Comprehensive Review of Ecology and Conservation of the Greater
Sage Grouse: A Landscape Species and
its Habitats (monograph) and the USFWS's Greater Sage Grouse Conservation
Objectives Final Report.
"We received one letter back that addressed all three," Wagner recounted.
"They responded that BLM would provide
a response to the NTT Report issue in
the upcoming records of decision; USGS
would provide a response to the monograph challenge in the listing decision,
and USFWS mistakenly did not attach

PAW Challenges
On another public lands issue, PAW
Vice President Esther Wagner and Rob
Mathes with Bjork Lindley Little PC discussed the protests industry groups, including PAW, filed to BLM's revised
resource management plans for
Wyoming's Buffalo and Bighorn Basin
regions, as well as the Wyoming greater
sage grouse land use plan amendment,
which includes nine sage grouse RMPs
122 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

the public study to its report, so it provided
a link in its response letter. The trade association group thought the responses
were inadequate, so we appealed."
Wagner indicated that the coalition
also planned to file another DQA challenge
to a study by researcher Daniel Manier.
"BLM actually seems to be distancing
itself from the NTT Report and is relying
increasingly on the Manier study," Wagner
imparted. "My understanding is that the
Manier study supports four-mile buffers."
Other Matters
Brown also addressed the BLM's proposed revisions to Onshore Order No. 3,
which deals with site security. Brown
lauded the amendment's proposal to delete
a site security plan requirement, but suggested that was the only aspect of the
proposed rule that was better than the
existing one.
"It adds a new site security diagram,
which is going to be more complex," he
related. "These diagrams are going to request a lot more information."
Moreover, he warned, BLM is seeking
to expand the list of incidents of noncompliance that trigger an automatic assessment. He contrasted the proposed offenses for which BLM was seeking automatic assessments, such as seal violations,
with the historical standard, which reserved
them for instances as egregious as wells
that had been drilled without a permit.
"Over the years, there always has been
time to correct or abate most incidents of
noncompliance," Brown characterized.
Other problem areas with the new Onshore Order No. 3 he cited included its
portion on requirements for commingling.
Ultimately, he said, the industry will likely
see additional proposed rules from the
BLM. "Other onshore orders are being

The federal resource management
plans for Wyoming adhere to the
state's core acreage strategy, but
its net conservation gain standard
is problematic, relates Rob Mathes
with Bjork Lindley Little PC. During
the summer, the Bureau of Land
Management issued revised RMPs
for Wyoming's Buffalo and Bighorn
Basin regions, as well as the Wyoming greater sage grouse land use
plan amendment, which includes
nine sage grouse RMPs, to incorporate sage grouse habitat conservation policies for six BLM offices and
three national forests.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

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